( cue  ^  ^« Jr  (j^-^ 


\\.\i;i;kx  c.  ii.\i;i)IX(;. 


Phksidknt   op    iiiK    I'mtki)   Staii.;s   ok   Amkkkw, 
The  lloii'irdri/   I'ic.siilcii I   (jf  llic  V(in;jrcss. 


/ 


THE  PRESS  CONGRESS 

OF  THE  WORLD 

IN    HAWAH 


IVith  Foreword  By 
WARREN  G.  HARDING 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE   UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA 
HONORARY  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  CONGRESS 


Edited  Bv 

WALTER    WILLIAMS 

DEAN  OF  THE  SCHOOL  OF  JOURNALISM  OF  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF   MISSOURI. 
COLUMBIA.    MISSOURI,    U.  S.  A  .  PRESIDENT  OF  THE  CONGRESS 


Columbia,  Missouri,  U.  S.  A. 
W.  Stephens  Publishing  Company. 

1922 


/ 1  -^  ^ 


WHAT  THE    BOOK   CONTAINS. 


I.  FOREWORD,  BY  WARREN  G.  HARDING.  PRESIDENT  OF 
THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA,  HONORARY  PRESI- 
DENT OF  THE  PRESS  CONGRESS  OF  THE  WORLD.  .        I 

II.     INTRODUCTION,    P>Y    WALTER    WILLIAMS,    PRESIDENT 

OF    THE    PRESS   CONGRESS    OF    THE    WORLD.  .  .        3 

111.     HAWAII    AND   ITS    HOSPITALITY 7 

IV.     PROCEEDINGS    OF    THE    CONGRESS 65 

V.     MESSAGES   TO   THE   CONGRESS 403 

VI.     PAN-PACIFIC    PRESS    CONFERENCE 419 

VII.     APPENDIX 507 

VIII.     LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 599 

IX.     INDEX .        ..         .601 


M281621 


I. 

FOREWORD. 

The  White  House 
Washington 

December  12,  1921 

I  believe  that  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  recently  held 
in  Honolulu,  marked  a  real  advance  toward  a  proper  mutuality 
of  understanding  and  unification  of  eiTorts  among  the  representa- 
tives of  the  world's  press.  It  is  perhaps  more  than  merely  a  co- 
incidence that  within  a  few  weeks  following  that  Congress,  which 
was  held  at  the  cross  roads  of  the  Pacific,  that  a  great  Inter- 
national Conference  in  Washington  should  have  devised  a  pro- 
gressive and  promising  program  for  the  settlement  of  those  prob- 
lems in  a  way  which  seems  to  give  new  assurance  of  the  main- 
tenance of  peace  in  that  region. 

The  excellent  results  accomplished  at  Honolulu  have  been 
followed  by  equally  fortunate  ones,  in  the  attitude  of  the  rep- 
resentatives of  the  Press  during  the  Conference  in  Washington. 
There  will  hardly  be  a  serious  dissent  from  the  proposition  that 
the  Washington  Conference  owes  much  of  its  achievement  to  the 
fact  that  there  was  so  excellent  a  disposition  and  attitude  toward 
it  on  the  part  of  the  press. 

These  things  justify  us  in  the  hope  that  a  larger  and  more  ef- 
fective part  of  leadership  is  likely  to  be  taken  by  the  press  in 
the  development  of  public  opinion  regarding  the  problems  that 
concern  the  world  and  the  world's  governments.  In  this  view, 
one  can  hardly  doubt  that  Dr.  Williams  is  doing  a  commendable 
service  in  presenting  his  book  on  the  "Press  Congress  of  the 
World  in  Hawaii,"  and  I  hope  it  may  have  the  consideration 
which  its  merits  will  doubtless  deserve. 

Warren  G.  Harding. 


(1) 


II. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  which  held  its  first  ses- 
sions in  Honolulu,  Territory  of  Hawaii,  United  States  of  America, 
in  October-November,  1921,  had  its  preliminary  organization  at 
the  Pan-Pacific  International  Exposition  in  San  Francisco  in 
July,  1915.  Representatives  of  the  world's  press  had  been  asked 
by  the  Exposition  to  meet  in  an  International  Press  Congress, 
July  6,  7,  8,  9  and  10,  of  that  year.  At  this  meeting  it  was  unani- 
mously decided,  upon  resolution  offered  by  Robert  Bell,  of  New 
Zealand,  to  effect  a  permanent  organization.  The  following  con- 
stitution was  adopted : 

Article  I — Name. 

This  organization  shall  be  known  as  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World. 

Article  II — Object. 

Its  object  shall  be  to  advance  by  conference,  discussion  and  united  effort 
the  cause  of  journalism  in  every  honorable  way.  The  sessions  of  the 
Congress  are  to  be  open  to  the  consideration  of  all  questions  directly  af- 
fecting the  press,  but  discussions  of  religion,  politics  and  governmental 
policies  will  not  be  permitted. 

Article  III — Membership. 

Workers  in  every  department  of  journalism,  in  every  country,  who  are 
engaged  in  promoting  the  highest  standards  and  largest  welfare  of  the 
press,  are  eligible  to  membership. 

Article  IV — Officers. 

The  officers,  who,  with  the  exception  of  the  honorary  president  to  be 
chosen  by  the  Executive  Committee,  shall  be  elected  at  each  session  of  the 
Congress,  shall  be 

An  honorary  president, 

A  president, 

Two  vice-presidents  from  each  country  holding  membership, 

A   secretary-treasurer, 

An  Executive  Committee  consisting  of  the  president  and  secretary- 
treasurer  and  five  additional  members  chosen  from  the  vice-presidents. 

(3) 


4  The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Vacancies  shall  be  filled  by  the  Executive  Committee  upon  recommenda- 
tion of  the  countries  affected. 

Article  V — Meetings.  ' 

The  times  and  places  of  meetings  shall  be  determined  by  the  Executive 
Committee. 

Article  VI — Anicnduicjits. 

This  constitution  may  be  amended  at  any  meeting  under  provisions  to 
be  established  by  the  Executive  Committee. 

The  following  officers  were  chosen  and,  in  addition,  vice  pres- 
idents from  all  the  countries  represented : 

President :  Walter  Williams,  Dean  of  the  School  of  Journal- 
ism of  the  University  of  Missouri,  Columbia,  Missouri.  U.  S.  A. 

Secretary-Treasurer:  A.  R.  Ford,  Secretary  of  the  Dominion 
Press  Gallery,  Ottawa,  Canada. 

Among  those  who  addressed  the  organization  sessions  at  San 
Francisco  were : 

James  A.  Barr,  Director  of  Congresses  at  the  Exposition,  at 
whose  suggestion  the  International  Press  Congress  was  held ; 
Charles  C.  Moore,  President,  Pan-Pacific  International  Exposi- 
tion; John  Clyde  Oswald,  editor  of  the  American  Printer,  New 
York;  Mark  Cohen  of  the  Evening  Star,  Dunedin,.  New  Zea- 
land ;  K.  Sugimura,  foreign  editor,  Asahi  Shimbun,  Tokyo,  Japan ; 
Aaron  Watson,  of  the  London  Times;  Enrique  Lievano,  of  the 
United  States  of  Colombia ;  V.  R.  Beteta,  Diario  de  Centro 
America,  Guatemala  City,  Guatemala,  who  served  as  president 
of  the  International  Press  Congress ;  William  Jennings  Bryan, 
editor  of  the  Commoner,  Lincoln,  Nebraska,  former  Secretary  of 
State;  Harvey  Ingham,  of  the  Register  and  Leader,  Des  Moines, 
Iowa;  M.  H.  de  Young,  of  the  San  Francisco  Chronicle;  Robert 
Bell  of  the  Guardian,  Ashburton,  New  Zealand ;  Edgar  B.  Piper, 
of  the  Portland  Oregonian ;  Captain  J.  W.  Niesigh,  of  Sydney, 
Australia;  S.  D.  Scott,  of  the  News  Advertiser,  Vancouver,  Brit- 
ish Columbia ;  G.  E.  Uyehara,  of  the  State,  Tokyo ;  Norman  E. 
Mack,  of  the  Times,  Buffalo,  New  York ;  Kee  Owyang,  of 
China ;  James  A.  Buchanan,  El  Mundo^  Havana ;  Mirza  Ali 
Khuli  Khan,  of  Teheran,  Persia;  Alfred  G.  Andersen,  of  the 
Danish  Press  Council,  Copenhagen ;  K.  D.  Shastri,  of  the  Nawa- 
jiwan,  Benares,  India;  Dr.  H.  Schoop,  of  the  Association  de  la 


Introduction  5 

Presse  Suisse,  Berne,  Switzerland ;  C.  Vassardakis,  of  Greece ; 
Ernesto  Nelson,  La  Nacion,  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina;  Geo.  E. 
Hosnier,  President,  National  Editorial  Association  of  the  United 
States ;  H.  C.  Hotaling,  the  Enterprise,  Mapleton,  Minnesota ; 
Peter  C.  Macfarlane,  of  New  York  City ;  Percy  Andrae,  of 
Chicago ;  Friend  W.  Richardson,  of  California ;  Chester  H.  Row- 
ell,  of  California;  Lee  J.  Rountree,  Vice  President  of  the  National 
Editorial  Association  of  the  United  States ;  A.  B.  McPherson, 
of  Santa  Cruz,  California;  J.  C.  Morrison,  of  Morris,  Minnesota; 
John  H.  Perry,  of  Seattle,  Washington ;  James  Schermerhorn, 
the  Times,  Detroit,  Michigan;  Fred  J.  Wilson,  of  San  Francisco; 
Henry  F.  Urban,  American  Correspondent  of  the  Hamburger 
Fremdenblatt ;  Merle  Thorpe,  of  Seattle,  Washington ;  Colvin 
B.  Brown,  of  San  Francisco ;  Dr.  Talcott  Williams,  Director  of 
the  Pulitzer  School  of  Journalism,  Columbia  University,  New 
York ;  Dr.  Fred  Newton  Scott,  of  the  University  of  Michigan ; 
Hugh  Mercer  Blain,  Louisiana  State  University;  M.  M.  Fogg, 
University  of  Nebraska;  Homer  Mooney,  State  Journal,  Reno, 
Nevada ;  Charles  W.  Price,  of  the  Electrical  Review,  New  York ; 
Ralph  E.  Fox,  of  the  Indicator,  Chicago ;  B.  B.  Herbert,  founder 
of  the  National  Editorial  Association,  of  Chicago ;  Lee  Sum  Ling, 
of  Peking,  China ;  Wm.  McCuUough,  of  New  Zealand ;  Geo.  D. 
Pappageorge,  of  Greece;  H.  C.  Khakeebi,  of  Java;  A..R.  Gard- 
ner, of  Kennewick,  Washington;  Joseph  Mesru,  of  India,  and 
A.  R.  Ford,  of  Canada. 

A  number  of  papers  were  read  by  title. 

This  volume  contains  the  stenographic  report  of  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  sessions  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  held 
in  Honolulu,  October  11  to  November  1,  1921;  a  report  of  the 
Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  organized  at  Honolulu ;  an  ac- 
count of  the  history  and  resources  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii 
and  of  the  hospitality  of  its  government  and  people ;  messages  to 
the  Congress  from  journalists  throughout  the  world ;  and,  in  the 
appendix,  the  revised  constitution  adopted  by  the  Congress,  the 
list  of  delegates  and  guests  present  at  Honolulu,  together  with 
a  number  of  papers  upon  journalism  in  various  countries  written 
for  but  not  read  during  the  Congress  sessions.  Much  of  the 
matter  contained  in  the  chapter  upon  "Hawaii  and  Its  Hospital- 
ity," is  taken  from  the  columns  of  two  of  the  daily  newspapers 


6  The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

of  Honolulu,  the  Star-Bulletin  and  the  Advertiser.  The  photo- 
graph of  the  opening  session  of  the  Congress  in  the  Moana  Hotel 
is  used  through  the  courtesy  of  the  Nippu  Jiji  of  Honolulu. 

The  Foreword  is  by  the  Honorable  Warren  G.  Harding,  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  of  America,  who  is  Honorary  Presi- 
dent of  the  Press  Congress.  President  Harding's  address  to  the 
Congress  was  read  by  the  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 
the  Honorable  Wallace  R.  Farrington,  who  laid  aside  his  duties 
as  vice  president  and  general  business  manager  of  the  Honolulu 
Star-Bulletin,  to  serve  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  under  President 
Harding's  appointment,  as  Chief  Executive. 

Except  as  noted  in  the  stenographic  report  of  the  proceedings, 
all  addresses  delivered,  papers  read  and  discussions  taking  place, 
are  reported  in  full,  save  that  announcements  local  and  tempo- 
rary in  character  are  omitted. 


W.\i;iKI!   W  IIJJA.MS, 


J)i:a,\  ()!■  TiiK  Sciioni,  oi.  Joi  knamsm  ok  iiik  IMmoksitv  ok  Missoiki, 
Columbia,  Mrssorui,  I'.  S.  A., 
The  I'rejidcnt  uf  tlic  Conarfss. 


III. 

HAWAII  AND  ITS  HOSPITALITY. 

The  unsurpassed  hospitality  of  the  people  of  the  Territory 
of  Hawaii  was  shown  to  the  delegates  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World  in  many  ways.  Entertainments  of  all  kinds,  miU- 
tary  and  naval  reviews,  automobile  rides,  visits  to  industries, 
luncheons,  dinners,  teas  and  receptions,  excursions  around  the 
islands,  gave  to  the  visitors  opportunity  for  acquaintanceship 
with  the  marvelous  beauty  and  resources  of  the  islands  and  with 
the  charm  of  its  hospitable  people. 

From  comments  written  by  delegates  and  visitors  this  chapter, 
outlining  the  attractiveness  of  the  days  in  Hawaii  and  some  of 
the  features  of  the  entertainment,  has  been  prepared.  To  it  is 
added  a  description  of  Hawaii  taken  from  the  beautiful  souvenir 
volume  presented  to  the  delegates.  The  chapter  is  from  many 
pens,  all  of  which  combined  cannot  do  justice  to  the  gracious 
hospitality  of  the  beautiful  Islands  of  the  Pacific  and  the  never 
failing  cordiality  of  their  people. 


The  delegation  to  the  Press  Congress  from  the  mainland  of 
the  United  States  of  America  reached  Honolulu  at  daybreak 
on  the  morning  of  October  10,  1921,  on  the  Matson  Navigation 
Company's  liner  Matsonia,  after  six  delightful  days  on  a  tran- 
quil ocean.  It  was  accompanied  by  the  delegates  from  Great 
Britain,  Cuba,  Central  America,  Canada,  Greece  and  Norway. 
Other  delegates  arrived  at  Honolulu  at  different  times  from 
Japan,  China,  Australia,  New  Zealand,  the  Philippines,  and  else- 
where, to  the  total  number  of  two  hundred.  There  were  one 
hundred  and  eight  newspaper  men  and  women  in  the  party  ar- 
riving from  the  American  mainland  on  October  10  and  Honolulu 
extended  to  them  a  typical  Hawaiian  welcome. 

It  was  a  day  such  as  those  who  live  in  distant  lands  often 
conjure  up  when  thoughts  turn  to  long  winter  months  with  their 
snow  and  icy  winds.     For  several  hours  before   daybreak  the 

(7) 


8  The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

delegates  were  up  and  about,  eager  to  catch  the  first  ghmpse  of 
the  Mokapu  Hght  which  guides  the  big  steamers  and  saihng  ships 
along  the  southern  coast  of  Oahu,  around  famous  Diamond 
Head,  and  thence  into  Honolulu  harbor.  Dawn  broke  over  the 
city  revealing  a  veritable  jungle  of  vivid  green  foliage,  over 
which  towered  great  palm  trees,  and  with  low-lying  mountains, 
tinged  with  browns  and  purples  in  the  faint  half-light,  as  a  back- 
ground. But  with  the  sun  there  came  to  view  the  Honolulu 
waterfront  with  its  modern  steel  and  concrete  wharves,  and 
then  the  city  proper  with  its  great  business  blocks,  its  clanging 
street  cars,  and  men  and  women  hurrying  to  their  work  in 
offices,  shops  and  factories. 

To  some  it  may  have  been  a  disappointment — a  disappoint- 
ment in  that  a  modern  American  city  had  come  into  view  when, 
perhaps,  something  a  little  more  tropical  had  been  looked  for- 
ward to.  Story  books  to  the  contrary,  there  were  no  grass- 
skirted  girls  dancing  the  hula-hula  on  the  beach ;  there  were  no 
grass  houses  along  the  shore ;  there  were  no  hordes  of  native 
men  and  women,  clothed  in  little  else  than  what  nature  gave 
them  at  birth,  singing  weird  chants  as  they  paddled  about  the 
liner  in  outrigger  canoes. 

Just  off  Diamond  Head  the  Matsonia  was  met  by  two  Eagle 
boats  which  convoyed  her  to  a  point  outside  the  harbor,  where 
four  submarines  did  "stunts"  for  the  newcomers.  Two  sea- 
planes, shooting  here  and  there  in  the  morning  sunlight  like 
silver  darts,  circled  and  recircled  over  the  big  steamer  as  it 
neared  the  harbor.  A  launch  bearing  members  of  the  reception 
committee,  pretty  girls  with  armfuls  of  "leis"  or  flower  wreaths, 
musicians  and  newspaper  men  met  the  Matsonia  as  it  came  to 
an  anchorage  within  the  harbor.  As  the  launch  came  within 
hailing  distance  official  and  unofficial  greetings  were  shouted 
back  and  forth. 

"Aloha !  Aloha  Oe !" 

"Same  to  you !" 

"How  was  the  trip  down?" 

"Just  bully !" 

Acquaintanceships  were  formed  even  before  the  reception  com- 
mittee went  aboard  the  liner. 

Accompanying  the  reception  committee's  launch  were  three 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  9 

big  outrigger  canoes,  which  later  "towed"  the  Matsonia  into  her 
dock,  the  towHnes  being  long  streamers  of  ribbon.  Duke  P. 
Kahanamoku,  champion  sprint  swimmer  of  the  world  who  repre- 
sented America  at  the  Olympic  Games  at  Stockholm  and  Ant- 
werp, went  out  in  one  of  the  canoes,  boarded  the  launch  and 
dived  overboard.  Coming  up  alongside  the  Matsonia,  he  shook 
the  water  from  his  long  black  hair  and  shouted  to  the  delegates : 

"Right  over  here,  now." 

Every  time  a  big  ship  comes  into  Honolulu  the  "kids"  along 
the  waterfront  swim  out  and  accompany  her  in,  diving  for  the 
pennies  and  dimes  which  travelers  throw  overboard.  And  here, 
then,  was  the  "Duke"  getting  a  world  of  fun  out  of  a  sport  he 
had  indulged  in  when,  as  a  youngster,  he  had  used  Honolulu 
harbor  to  train  for  the  championships  which  were  to  be  his  in 
later  years. 

Coin  after  coin  was  flung  into  the  water  by  the  laughing  dele- 
gates, and  less  than  a  minute  later  Duke  had  a  mouthful  of  dimes, 
quarters  and  nickels. 

"Who  is  he?"  came  a  woman's  voice  from  the  starboard  rail. 

"That's  the  Duke." 

"Duke  of  what?" 

"Duke  Kahanamoku." 

Whereupon  the  delegates  applauded  the  introduction  and  a 
battery  of  cameras  opened  fire.  Then  George  ("Dad")  Center, 
famous  trainer  of  famous  Hawaiian  swimmers,  dived  in,  and 
soon  he,  too,  had  a  mouthful  of  coins.  This  gave  the  other  pad- 
dlers  an  idea,  and  they  quickly  got  into  the  water  to  show  that 
they  were  just  as  good  at  the  money-making  business  as  the 
champion. 

Then  an  orchestra  from  the  Hawaiian  Band — a  band  that 
has  become  famous  the  world  over — played  "Aloha  Oe,"  swing- 
ing a  little  later  into  a  jazzy  hula-hula  melody  that  set  every 
foot  on  the  Matsonia's  deck  tapping.  Singing  boys  and  girls, 
representing  the  Hawaiian  Civic  Club,  gave  a  number  of  Hawaiian 
songs  which  were  greatly  enjoyed  by  the  visitors.  There  were 
also  songs  by  a  double  quartet  of  Hawaiian  Band  boys. 

After  the  port  doctor  had  finished  his  work  and  the  yellow 
flag  had  been  hauled  down,  the  reception  committee  and  others 
went  aboard,  and  there  followed  a  welcome  and  exchange  of 


10         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

greetings  and  handshakings  that  will  long  be  remembered  by 
those  who  took  part.  Miss  Josephine  Hopkins,  Miss  Gerd 
Hiorth,  Miss  Ethel  Marston  and  Miss  Margaret  Neely,  pretty 
Honolulu  girls,  placed  about  the  shoulders  of  each  delegate  a 
Hawaiian  wreath,  symbolic  of  the  city's  welcome  to  the  visitors. 
Thousands  of  persons  thronged  Pier  fifteen  as  the  Matsonia 
pulled  into  the  dock.  Lining  the  edge  of  the  shed  was  a  typical 
racial  group  composed  of  children  from  the  Honolulu  public 
schools  wearing  the  native  costumes  of  the  lands  of  their  for- 
bears, and  carrying  the  flags  of  those  nations.  It  was  a  strikingly 
impressive  sight,  and  furnished  a  bit  of  local  color  of  the  kind 
that  newspaper  men  and  women  especially  appreciate.  The  little 
group  was  applauded  time  and  again.  A  Korean  group  in  national 
costume  was  the  center  of  much  attention.  The  Matsonia  docked 
amidst  a  roar  of  whistles,  applause  and  music.  The  Hawaiian 
Band  played  old-time  Hawaiian  melodies.  Among  the  members 
of  the  reception  committee  who  met  the  delegates  at  the  harbor 
entrance  were  Col.  Riley  H.  Allen,  editor  of  The  Honolulu  Star- 
Bulletin,  who,  while  with  the  Red  Cross  during  and  after  the 
World  War,  steered  the  famous  Child  Ship  around  the  world, 
giving  back  little,  lonely  children  into  mother  arms  that  had 
ached  through  long,  hopeless  months  to  hold  them ;  Lorrin  A. 
Thurston;  Worth  O.  Aiken,  representing  the  island  of  Maui; 
Gerrit  P.  Wilder,  Alexander  Hume  Ford,  George  T.  Armitage, 
secretary  of  the  Hawaii  Tourist  Bureau,  and  Raymond  C.  Brown, 
now  secretary  of  Hawaii,  and  at  that  time  secretary  of  the  Cham- 
ber of  Commerce  of  Honolulu. 


Hawaii's  official  "Aloha"  to  the  delegates  was  extended  by 
Governor  Wallace  R.  Farrington  in  the  following  statement: 

"In  the  light  of  developing  world  events,  the  assembling  of 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  at  this  time  and  place  seems  like 
the  fulfilment  of  an  inspiration. 

"As  a  preliminary  to  the  international  conference  in  Washing- 
ton, it  is  appropriate  that  the  journalists  and  publishers,  the 
interpreters  and  distributors  of  the  world's  news,  should  gather 
at  the  crossroads  of  the  Pacific  where  many  of  the  problems  to 
be  studied  at  the  Congress  of  Nations  concentrate  and  pass  in 
review. 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  11 

"The  'White  Light'  of  accurate  and  honestly-balanced  pub- 
licity will  go  far  toward  paving  the  way  to  clearer  understand- 
ing and  intelligent  conclusions. 

"In  Hawaii  the  delegates  can  study  the  results  of  the  union  of 
races  bordering  on  the  Pacific.  They  can  determine  what  measure 
of  success  has  attended  the  adjustment  of  ideals  and  ambitions  of 
the  Occident  and  of  the  Orient.  They  can  tell  the  world  what 
Hawaii  has  demonstrated  as  possible  through  toleration  and  an 
earnest  desire  to  find  a  common  meeting-ground  and  working 
basis. 

"The  territory  of  Hawaii  is  gratified  and  greatly  honored  to 
be  the  host  of  the  delegates  who,  through  making  new  acquaint- 
ances, securing  new  points  of  view  and  reaching  a  friendly 
understanding  among  themselves,  will  speed  the  day  when  all 
that  is  best  in  international  friendships  thus  established  can  be 
made  use  of  in  enlisting  support  of  practical  standards  for  a 
permanent  peace  throughout  the  world. 

"Hawaii  extends  to  the  delegates  the  cordial  Aloha  that  is  all 
our  own.  This  Aloha  is  peculiar  to  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  hav- 
ing its  source  in  the  friendly  character  of  the  native  races  and 
spreading  its  beneficent  contagion  among  all  who  touch  these 
shores." 


The  Hon.  John  H.  Wilson,  Mayor  of  Honolulu,  issued  the 
following  statement  of  welcome: 

"To  the  Men  and  Women  Who  Represent  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World: 

"Honolulu  extends  the  right  hand  of  fellowship.  It  is  pe- 
culiarly appropriate  that  you  have  gathered  this  year  at  the  Hub 
of  the  Pacific.  It  is  particularly  important  that  you  have  chosen 
to  deliberate  on  your  records  of  the  past,  your  activities  of  the 
present,  and  your  hopes  for  the  future  at  this  point,  around 
which  will  revolve  within  the  next  few  years  the  wheel  of  inter- 
national events,  destined  to  mark  the  transitory  period  between 
a  world  of  divided  peoples  and  a  solidified  family  of  the  na- 
tions of  the  earth. 

"Honolulu  claims  her  place  as  the  cynosure  of  the  eyes  of 
creation  for  the  coming  decade.  We  stand  on  the  dividing  line 
between  the  peoples  of  the  East  and  those  of  the  West;  be- 


12         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

tvveen  the  Occident  and  the  Orient.  We  are  the  frontier  on  which 
is  met  at  last  the  advancing  vanguard  of  the  white  races  and  the 
marching  forces  of  the  yellow.  With  patience  and  fortitude  and 
strength  we  are  endeavoring  to  meet  the  issue  before  us.  In 
sincerity  and  truth  we  are  judging  man  by  his  head  and  heart  and 
not  by  his  skin  and  blood.  We  are  to  be  the  center  of  the  great 
conflict — peaceful,  we  pray;  sane  and  final,  we  trust,  and  certain, 
we  insist. 

"To  you  who  are  to  give  to  the  waiting  eyes  and  minds  of 
the  world  the  details  of  the  contest,  the  victories  and  defeats,  the 
trials  and  triumphs,  Honolulu  extends  a  warmth  of  welcome  such 
as  only  Hawaii  knows.  From  the  glory  of  our  sunshine,  the 
beauty  of  our  sea,  the  grandeur  of  our  hills  and  the  brilliance  of 
our  flowers,  may  you  find  added  strength  in  your  holy  mission 
to  show  men  the  truth  that  the  truth  shall  make  them  free." 


Press  Congress  headquarters  were  established  at  the  Moana 
Hotel  at  Waikiki  Beach,  Honolulu.  Here  a  majority  of  the 
delegates  were  quartered,  although  some  preferred  to  live  at 
hotels  nearer  the  business  district.  An  information  bureau  was 
established  at  the  hotel  by  the  Honolulu  Press  Club,  of  which 
Mrs.  John  Trenholm  Warren  is  president,  which  also  furnished 
typewriters,  stenographers,  pencils,  pens,  paper,  telephones  and 
other  things  so  essential  to  working  newspaper  men  and  women. 
Here  there  could  be  obtained  all  sorts  of  literature  descriptive 
of  the  islands,  and  files  of  local  and  mainland  newspapers.  Mr. 
L.  W.  de  Vis-Norton,  executive  secretary  of  the  Hawaiian  Is- 
lands committee,  also  had  an  office  at  the  hotel,  and  attended  to 
the  registration  of  the  delegates,  and  the  assignment  of  quarters 
to  them.  The  Naval  Radio  office  installed  telegraphic  instru- 
ments at  the  hotel,  and  an  operator  was  on  duty  daily  to  receive 
press  and  other  messages  which  the  delegates  desired  to  send. 

During  the  morning  of  their  arrival,  and  during  the  fore  part 
of  the  afternoon  the  delegates  were  left  pretty  much  to  themselves 
so  that  they  might  get  "settled"  in  their  new  quarters  and  become 
acquainted  with  their  new  surroundings.  But  that  afternoon, 
from  three-thirty  until  five-thirty  o'clock  delegates  and  resi- 
dents of  Honolulu  were  guests  at  a  reception  given  in  the  throne 
room  at  lolani  Palace  (the  executive  building),  the  only  throne 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  13 

room,  by  the  way,  in  the  United  States,  by  Governor  and  Mrs. 
Wallace  R.  Farrington.  In  the  receiving  line  with  the  governor, 
Mrs.  Farrington,  and  their  daughter,  Miss  Frances  Farrington, 
were  Dr.  Walter  Williams  and  his  daughter,  Mrs.  John  F. 
Rhodes.  Refreshments  were  served,  and  the  occasion  formed  a 
splendid  opportunity  for  hundreds  of  Honolulans  to  get  "on 
speaking  terms"  with  the  visitors. 

Just  before  the  reception  began.  Doctor  Williams,  at  the  re- 
quest of  Governor  Farrington,  stopped  for  a  moment  to  speak 
to  Louis  Madeiras,  the  Portuguese  elevator  "boy"  at  the  cap- 
itol.  Louis  had  expressed  a  desire  to  meet  and  speak  briefly  with 
Doctor  Williams.  After  greetings  were  exchanged,  Louis  pro- 
duced a  package  tied  up  carefully  in  white  tissue  paper.  This 
he  presented  to  Doctor  Williams.  It  proved  to  be  a  handsome 
gavel,  manufactured  from  the  native  "koa"  wood  and  highly 
polished  as  only  Hawaiians  can  polish  it.  Into  the  top  had  been 
sunk  a  golden  plate  bearing  the  Hawaiian  coat-of-arms  with  the 
motto  of  the  old  monarchy  "Ua  Mau  Ke  la  o  Ka  Aina  I  Ka 
Pono,"  which  means  "The  life  of  the  land  is  established  in 
righteousness."  Doctor  Williams  thanked  Louis  warmly  for  the 
gift,  and  a  few  days  later  used  the  gavel  in  calling  the  business 
sessions  of  the  Press  Congress  to  order. 


The  first  official  function  in  honor  of  the  visiting  delegates  was 
a  banquet  given  at  the  Moana  Hotel  on  the  evening  of  October 
10  by  the  members  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  executive  committee. 
Here,  again,  many  prominent  Honolulans  and  residents  of  the 
outlying  islands  were  given  an  opportunity  to  become  acquainted 
with  the  visitors,  and  the  affair  proved  to  be  a  joyous  demonstra- 
tion of  Hawaiian  hospitality  to  which  the  delegates  responded 
with  many  statements  of  good-will  and  appreciation.  Among 
the  speakers  were  Governor  Farrington,  Mayor  Wilson,  Mrs. 
John  Trenholm  Warren  and  George  Denison,  then  president  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  Honolulu.  Those  who  responded 
on  behalf  of  the  delegates  were  Col.  Edward  Frederick  Lawson, 
assisting  managing  proprietor  of  the  London  Daily  Telegraph 
and  representative  of  the  British  Empire  Press  Union;  Ludvig 
Saxe  of  Christiania,  Norway,  representing  the  Norsk  Pressefor- 
bund ;  Thales  Coutoupis,  editor  of  Nea  Ellas,  Athens,  represent- 


14        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

ing  Greece,  Agustin  Lazo,  delegate  from  Cuba;  Frank  P. 
Glass,  Sr.,  of  Birmingham,  Alabama,  representing  the  United 
States  at  large ;  Mark  Cohen,  chairman  of  the  New  Zealand  del- 
egation; Guy  Innes  of  Melbourne,  Australia;  T.  Petrie  of  the 
Morning  Post,  Hongkong,  China;  Yasutaro  Soga,  editor  of  the 
Daily  Nippu  Jiji,  Honolulu  Japanese  language  newspaper;  Gre- 
gorio  Nieva,  delegate  from  the  Philippines ;  Virgilio  Rodriguez 
Beteta,  representing  the  Press  Association  of  Central  America; 
Oswald  Mayrand,  editor-in-chief  of  La  Presse,  Montreal,  repre- 
senting Canada ;  Hollington  K.  Tong,  one  of  the  members  of  the 
splendid  delegation  that  China  sent  to  the  Congress,  and,  lastly. 
Doctor  Williams.  Those  at  the  toastmaster's  table  were  Gover- 
nor and  Mrs.  Farrington,  Maj.-Gen.  and  Mrs.  C.  P.  Summerall, 
Admiral  and  Mrs.  Edward  Simpson,  Mayor  and  Mrs.  John  H. 
Wilson,  Delegate  and  Mrs.  Jonah  Kuhio  Kalanianaole,  Doctor 
Williams,  Colonel  and  Mrs.  Lawson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  John  T. 
Warren  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Frank  P.  Glass,  Sr. 

Hawaiian  progress  and  world  peace  were  the  subjects  chosen 
by  Governor  Farrington  for  his  address  to  the  delegates,  during 
the  course  of  which  he  gave  the  visitors  some  interesting  and  val- 
uable information  concerning  the  islands.  He  spoke  in  part  as 
follows : 

"Hawaii  is  a  territory  of  the  United  States,  an  integral  part 
of  the  United  States.  It  is  on  the  road  to  statehood,  if  its  own 
ambitions  are  to  establish  its  future  status. 

"Hawaii  became  part  of  the  United  States  by  its  own  request. 
Every  law  that  applies  to  the  states  and  territories  of  the  main- 
land of  our  country  applies  to  Hawaii.  We  have  no  separate 
tariff  laws.  We  bear  the  same  federal  tax  burdens  as  the  people 
of  the  States.  The  only  exceptions  thus  far  made  are  those  hav- 
ing to  do  with  the  expenditure  of  federal  funds  under  general 
appropriations  for  roads  and  schools  in  which  the  word  terri- 
tories is  specifically  eliminated  and  we  are  thus  definitely  left 
out.  Not  until  recent  months  has  Hawaii  ever  asked  for  an  ex- 
ception in  its  favor,  and  this  is  now  done  only  as  an  emergency 
relief  to  avert  industrial  disaster. 

"Hawaii  is  not  an  insular  possession  in  the  sense  of  those 
islands  coming  under  American  jurisdiction  as  a  direct  result  of 
the  Spanish-American  war.     We  do  not  claim  to  be  better  or 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  15 

worse  than  others.     We  seek  only  to  be  judged  and  treated  as 
the  facts  show  us  to  be. 

"New  England  furnishes  the  basis  of  Hawaii's  present  day 
progress.  For  more  than  a  hundred  years  therefore  in  moral, 
educational,  political,  industrial,  financial  and  commercial  life 
the  Americanism  of  the  United  States  has  been  the  ground  work 
from  which  our  various  efforts  at  constructive  progress  have 
been  reared. 

"American  Christianity  saved  the  native  Hawaiians  from  the 
degradation  and  destruction  that  would  have  been  possible  if 
Americans  had  followed  the  easy  course  of  making  headway  by 
ruthlessness. 

"American  education  gave  Hawaii  an  educational  system  to 
which  we  cordially  invite  the  special  attention  of  graduates  of 
the  little  red  school  houses  of  the  mainland.  Our  politics  have 
been  quite  as  diversified  as  you  will  find  in  the  average  American 
community  whose  controlling  desire  is  to  give  every  man,  woman 
and  child  a  fair  opportunity  to  enjoy  life,  liberty  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness  within  the  limits  of  laws  made  by  their  fellow  cit- 
izens. 

"We  point  also  with  definite,  not  hackneyed,  pride  to  the  finan- 
cial, industrial  and  commercial  reinforcement  that  has  been  woven 
into  the  fabric  of  romance,  summer  skies,  palm  trees  and  all  the 
other  settings  that  song,  story  and  the  romantic  journalist  tells 
us  tend  to  make  men  linger  by  the  wayside  and  let  the  rest  of 
the  world  go  by. 

"Hawaii's  sugar  industry  sets  a  world  standard.  The  crop 
yields  and  new  programs  of  cultivation  tell  the  story.  A  most 
striking  demonstration  is  the  construction  by  the  Honolulu  Iron 
Works  of  sugar  mills  not  only  in  Hawaii,  but  Cuba,  the  PhiHp- 
pines,  Formosa,  the  contracts  having  been  obtained  in  compe- 
tition with  the  largest  construction  companies  of  the  world. 

"Hawaii's  pineapple  industry  sets  a  world  standard. 

"No  stain  of  jugglery  or  repudiation  is  found  on  the  pages 
of  Hawaii's  financial  history. 

"Hawaii's  industry  enabled  the  establishment  of  the  finest  and 
largest  lines  of  cargo  carriers  under  the  American  Flag  previous 
to  the  war. 

"Hawaii,  with  its  275,000  population  and  area  approximating 


16        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

that  of  Connecticut,  paid  to  the  federal  government  last  year 
(1920)  taxes  of  more  than  $21,000,000.  We  bought  from  the 
mainland  merchandise  valued  at  $77,739,381.  We  sold  to  the 
mainland  products  valued  at  $177,173,234.  The  tonnage  of  ships 
using  our  harbors  was  6,088,689,  the  increases  demonstrating  how 
rapidly  the  Pacific  is  coming  to  fulfill  the  prediction  of  Secretary 
of  State  Seward  as  the  center  of  great  world  development. 

"In  April,  1876,  when  the  reciprocity  treaty  with  the  United 
States  was  passed,  we  had  no  pineapple  industry.  In  1894  our 
records  show  44,903  pieces.  That  means  pineapples.  They  were 
exported  to  the  mainland  of  the  United  States  as  fresh  fruit. 
We  had  no  canning  industry. 

*Tn  1921  we  exported  to  the  mainland  of  the  United  States 
5,500,000  cases  of  pineapples. 

"In  1894  our  sugar  crop  was  153,000  tons.  In  1921  it  was 
583,000  tons. 

"Our  customs  receipts  this  year  were  over  $1,000,000. 

"The  assessed  valuation  of  property  in  1894  was  $35,000,000. 
In  1921  it  was  $286,000,000. 

"I  presume  the  business  managers  of  papers  can  understand 
this  with  a  keener  feeling  than  the  man  in  the  editorial  depart- 
ment, but  it  is  something  we  all  have  to  consider  in  the  develop- 
ment of  communities,  as  well  as  the  development  of  journalistic 
enterprises.  Hawaii  has  a  just  claim  to  a  place  in  the  front  rank 
of  those  who  see  and  understand  the  power  of  the  white  light 
of  publicity. 

"The  printing  press  is  found  listed  in  the  equipment  of  the 
earliest  American  missionaries.  The  first  newspaper  west  of 
the  Rocky  Mountains  was  published  in  Hawaii  and  the  press  on 
which  it  was  printed  is  now  in  a  Portland  (Ore.)  museum.  King 
Kamehameha  II  pulled  the  first  sheet  from  the  first  printing 
press  of  Hawaii  July  7,  1822,  so  you  can  see  how  quickly  they 
acted.  On  July  7,  1822,  the  king  of  Hawaii  presided  at  the  is- 
suing of  the  first  paper  from  the  press.  This  was  at  the  American 
Mission  and  the  first  publicity  medium  was  a  book  in  the  Hawaiian 
language. 

"  Xama  Hawaii,'  interpreted,  The  Hawaiian  Luminary  or 
Light  of  Hawaii,  was  the  first  Hawaiian  newspaper  published, 
issued  from  the  press  of  the  Lahainaluna  Seminary,  February 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  17 

14,  1837.  The  first  newspaper  in  the  EngHsh  language  was  the 
Sandwich  Islands  Gazette,  that  lived  in  Honolulu  from  1836  to 
1839. 

"The  Friend,  now  vigorous,  justly  claims  to  be  the  oldest 
English  paper  in  the  Pacific.  It  was  first  issued  in  1834,  founded 
by  the  Rev.  Dr.  Damon  as  an  exponent  of  temperance  that  had 
other  less  fortunate  mediums  in  The  Cascade  and  The  Fountain 
of  1844-45.  That  paper  started  as  far  back  as  1843  and  few 
have  lived  to  see  the  proof  of  the  efforts  of  their  friends. 

"Of  other  old-timers  the  Pacific  Commercial  Advertiser  started 
as  a  weekly  in  1856  and  is  now  the  Honolulu  Advertiser.  The 
first  paper  to  start  as  a  daily  was  the  Daily  Bulletin  of  1882  and 
in  1893  divided  its  afternoon  field  with  the  Hawaiian  Star.  In 
1912  these  dailies  were  merged  into  the  present  afternoon  daily 
The  Honolulu  Star-Bulletin. 

"How  journalistic  efforts  have  followed  the  tide  of  immigra- 
tion is  an  interesting  study.  Each  alien  language  list  of  papers 
has  gradually  diminished  as  the  population  to  be  served  has  be- 
come merged  into  the  English-speaking  and  reading  citizens  of 
the  Islands.  The  variety  of  human  thought  now  being  served, 
the  bubbling  energy  that  seeks  expression  within  the  territory, 
is  indicated  by  a  partial  list  of  the  present-day  publications.  This 
is  rather  a  long  list,  but  I  think  you  will  be  interested  in  it. 
This  list  does  not  include  the  publications  of  the  high  schools, 
University  of  Hawaii,  church  magazines  and  a  number  of  others 
too  numerous  to  mention : 

"Ke  Aloha  Aina,  Ang  Abyan,  Chee  Yow  Shin  Bo,  The  Friend, 
The  Guide,  The  Hawaii  Choho,  Hawaii  Commercial  News, 
Hawaii  Educational  Review,  The  Hawaii  Hochi,  Hawaii  Shinpo, 
Hawaiian  Annual,  Hawaiian  Forester  and  Agriculturist,  Hawaiian 
Japanese  Annual,  Hon  Mun  Bo,  The  Honolulu  Advertiser,  Hon- 
olulu Commercial  Times,  Honolulu  Oil  News,  Honolulu  Star- 
Bulletin,  The  Hyoron  no  Hyoron,  The  Jitsugyo  no  Hawaii,  Ka 
Hoaloha,  Ke  Alakai  o  Hawaii,  Korean  Advocate  of  North  Amer- 
ica and  Territory  of  Hawaii,  Korean  National  Herald.  The  Labor 
Review  of  Hawaii,  The  Mid-Pacific  Magazine,  The  New  Free- 
dom, Nippu  Jiji,  Nupepa  Kuokoa,  The  Oahu  Jiho,  O  Luso,  The 
Pacific  Times.  Paradise  of  the  Pacific.  The  Service,  Sun  Chung 
Kwock  Bo,  Wah  Hing  Bo,  The  Daily  Post  Herald,  Hawaii  Asahi 


18        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Shimbun,  Hawaii  Herald,  The  Hawaii  Mainichi,  Hilo  Daily 
Tribune,  The  Hilo  Shimpo,  Ka  Hoku  o  Hawaii,  The  Kona  Echo, 
The  Kwazan  Sha,  O  Facho,  Maui  News,  The  Maui  Record,  The 
Maui  Shimbun,  The  Wailuku  Times,  The  Garden  Island,  Kauai 
Shimpo. 

"You  will  see  that  we  have  quite  a  variety. 

"Journalism  is  a  peculiar  human  institution.  It  has  its  ideal- 
ists who  point  the  way,  and  it  has  the  business  managers,  who, 
summing  up  the  bread-and-butter  conditions,  tell  these  idealists 
how  far  they  can  go  without  completely  wrecking  the  whole  es- 
tablishment and  making  the  last  condition  worse  than  the  first. 

"And  so  when  we  turn  to  some  of  the  topics  you  may  discuss, 
the  editor,  the  reporter,  the  writer  or  the  manager  has  a  rather 
clear  understanding  of  the  task  before  various  other  interna- 
tional delegates  even,  it  may  be,  those  meeting  at  Washington 
next  month. 

"Forces  of  publicity  that  you  represent  have  a  definite  re- 
sponsibility. You  dealers  in  and  disseminators  of  news  and  ideas 
know  full  well  that  the  results  of  every  world  congress  depend 
on  the  manner  in  which  the  facts  of  the  deliberations  are  pre- 
sented to  the  reading  public.  Thus  the  fate  of  the  world  may 
in  a  large  measure  be  in  the  hands  of  men  whose  life  and  train- 
ing have  taught  them  how  much  irreparable  harm  can  be  done 
by  careless  reporting,  colored  comment  and  failure  to  give  the 
readers  the  main  line  essentials,  on  account  of  the  demands  made 
on  space  for  a  display  story  of  a  dog  fight  or  the  decision  of 
editors  that  only  in  the  sensation  of  a  pimple  on  the  premier's 
nose  is  news  to  be  found. 

"Wrigley  has  said  'Make  it  short  and  give  it  to  them  often.' 
That  is  the  secret  of  advertising  or  propaganda  success.  It  is 
worth  thinking  about  in  a  good  cause,  and  deserves  watching 
when  used  for  evil  purposes.  There  can  be  no  question  of  the 
power  for  good  of  oft-repeated  plain  truth-telling  by  the  press 
of  the  world.  You  know  that  consistent  accuracy  builds  up  com- 
munity decency  and  self-respect.  You  know  how  deadly  is  the 
poison  of  misrepresentation. 

"The  peoples  of  the  world  are  for  peace.  No  greater  or  more 
obvious  truth  could  be  uttered  than  that  this  is  a  war-weary 
world. 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  19 

"The  peace  of  the  world  will  be  beyond  fear  of  disturbance 
when  the  press  of  the  world  top-line  features  the  news  of  peace, 
preaches  the  gospel  of  peace,  devotes  its  attention  to  getting  the 
facts  and  telling  the  truth  about  them  and  thus  demonstrates 
that  preparedness  accompanied  by  self-control  will  not  make  us 
a  world  of  mollycoddles  or  war  lords. 

"We  talk  about  the  dangers  of  armies  and  navies,  that  pos- 
session is  a  temptation  to  use  them.  No  more  dangerous  weapon 
exists  than  a  well-equipped  circulating  medium  reaching  hundreds 
of  thousands  of  readers.  The  frightfulness  of  this  weapon  is 
when  it  is  in  the  hands  of  foolish  ones  who  don't  know  it  is 
loaded.  One  of  the  matches  regularly  thrown  into  the  interna- 
tional powder  magazine  is  the  falsifying  press. 

"World  peace  will  be  absolutely  guaranteed  when  the  press 
of  the  world  can  say  to  governments  and  diplomats  'Give  us  all 
the  facts  and  we  will  tell  the  truth  about  them.' 

"This  world  of  ours  has  passed  through  an  orgy  of  reckless- 
ness; it  has  sounded  in  wasted  life  blood  the  depths  of  self-sac- 
rifice. We  have  experienced  the  extremes  of  humanities  and 
inhumanities.  Certainly  we  have  reached  the  era  for  testing 
the  capacities  of  the  really  great  people  for  self-control.  The 
press  of  the  world  can  lead  the  way." 


It  had  been  planned  to  hold  the  sessions  of  the  Press  Congress 
in  the  historic  old  throne  room  in  lolani  Palace,  but  later  it  was 
found  that,  owing  to  the  large  number  of  delegates,  this  would 
be  inadvisable,  so  the  banquet  hall  at  the  Moana  hotel  was  set 
aside  for  this  purpose.  lolani  Palace  was  built  during  the  reign 
of  the  late  King  Kalakaua,  and  took  the  place  of  the  ancient 
structure  that  used  to  stand  where  the  great  banyan  tree  in  the 
rear  of  the  capitol  grounds  now  rears  its  lofty  branches.  The 
throne  room  is  much  as  it  was  in  the  early  days,  with  its  koa 
and  kou  wood  panelling,  its  great  mirrors  in  their  gilded  frames, 
and  the  crystal  chandeliers  originally  fitted  to  burn  gas.  Around 
the  walls  hang  priceless  oil  paintings  of  many  of  the  monarchs 
of  Hawaii  and  many  of  the  distinguished  men  and  women  who 
at  some  time  or  another  had  associations  with  the  Hawaiian 
monarchy. 


20        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  visit  by  the  delegates  to  the  Congress  to  the  Islands  of 
Hawaii  and  Maui  will  without  doubt  remain  for  many  years 
clearly  stamped  upon  their  memories.  It  was  with  a  great  deal 
of  eagerness  that  they  left  Honolulu  early  on  the  morning  of  Oc- 
tober 12  for  the  port  of  Hilo,  on  the  Island  of  Hawaii,  one  hun- 
dred and  ninety  miles  distant. 

An  early  start  was  made  so  the  delegates  might  view  by  day- 
light the  beauties  of  the  islands  of  Molokai  and  Maui,  which  lie 
between  the  islands  of  Oahu  and  Hawaii.  The  day  was  as  per- 
fect a  Hawaiian  day  as  could  be  wished  for,  cloudless  and  with 
a  brisk  breeze  blowing.  The  sea  was  as  smooth  as  the  proverbial 
millpond,  and  those  who  were  so  unfortunate  as  to  suffer  from 
seasickness  on  the  voyage  from  San  Francisco  to  Honolulu  found 
that  not  even  the  Molokai  channel,  rough  at  times,  gave  them 
the  least  bit  of  uneasiness. 


While  the  Matsonia  was  on  its  way  to  Hilo,  a  number  of  the 
delegates,  meeting  in  a  conference  with  Doctor  Williams,  out- 
lined in  a  preliminary  way  the  plans  for  the  Pan-Pacific  Regional 
Press  Conference  that  was  to  be  established  a  few  days  later  at 
Honolulu.  To  consider  the  practicability  of  establishing  a  Pan- 
Pacific  School  of  Journalism  at  Honolulu  which  would  train 
young  men  from  all  Pacific  lands  in  newspaper  and  magazine 
work ;  to  act  as  agency  for  the  interchange  of  accurate  informa- 
tion about  the  peoples  of  the  Pacific  of  their  problems  among 
newspapers  and  magazines  of  the  Pacific  region,  and  to  take  steps 
necessary  to  obtain  cheaper  rates  for  news  matter  by  radio  and 
cable — these  were  some  of  the  suggestions  of  possible  fields  of 
endeavor  of  the  proposed  regional  conference. 

The  whole  proposition  of  the  organization  of  such  a  con- 
ference, which  would  be  an  integral  part  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World,  which  would  hold  sessions,  say  at  Honolulu,  every 
two  years,  and  which  would  be  the  forerunner  of  numerous  other 
regional  conferences  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  was  threshed 
out  at  some  length,  and  plans  were  made  for  a  definite  presenta- 
tion of  the  whole  matter  on  Pan-Pacific  Day. 

Alexander  Hume  Ford  explained  that  the  matter  of  forming 
a  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  was  first  taken  up  a  number 
of  years  ago.  He  pointed  out  that  for  some  time  an  Hawaiian 
committee  had  been  actively  at  work  at  Honolulu  and  that  in- 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  21 

vitations  had  been  issued  to  all  Pacific  countries  to  send  delegates 
to  the  initial  session.  About  sixty  of  the  delegates  who  were  at- 
tending the  Press  Congress  sessions  were  eligible  to  represent 
their  respective  countries  at  the  proposed  conference,  Ford  said. 

A  number  of  interesting  matters  concerning  the  ways  in 
which  a  regional  press  conference  could  be  beneficial  to  the  press 
of  the  Pacific,  were  brought  out.  Lorrin  A.  Thurston  urged 
action  looking  toward  the  breaking  down  of  restrictions  that 
were  at  that  time  tying  up  the  sending  of  news  matter  by  wire- 
less. He  pointed  out  that  while  the  Naval  Radio  at  Honolulu, 
for  example,  could  send  messages  to  Japan,  it  was  restricted 
from  so  doing,  being  permitted  to  send  material  only  certain  dis- 
tances, after  which  it  was  necessary  to  relay  it,  with  the  result 
that  additional  tolls  were  charged,  often  making  the  cost  pro- 
hibitive. 

V.  S.  McClatchy  of  the  Sacramento  (Cal.)  Bee  expressed  the 
opinion  that  relief  along  this  line  might  be  obtained  if  there  could 
be  applied  the  same  method  used  by  the  United  States  government 
in  sending  press  matter  by  way  of  the  Naval  Radio.  This  pres- 
ent system,  Mr.  McClatchy  said,  was  being  given  a  trial  for  a 
two-year  period,  and  the  entire  fabric  might  collapse  in  1922  if 
Congress  declined  to  grant  a  further  continuance  of  the  system. 
Congress,  Mr.  McClatchy  continued,  might  be  willing  to  grant  a 
continuance,  but  that  there  would  undoubtedly  be  opposition  on  the 
part  of  radio  companies  and  other  private  interests.  He  urged 
the  Press  Congress  to  lose  no  time  in  beginning  a  definite  cam- 
paign for  the  continuance  of  this  service. 

Mr.  Thurston  presented  a  strong  argument  in  favor  of  a  wider 
dissemination  of  news  from  lands  bordering  the  Pacific. 

"So  far  as  we.  are  concerned,"  he  said,  "We  do  not  know 
that  New  Zealand  exists  except  to  look  at  a  map,  or  except  when 
a  stranger  from  there  arrives  at  Honolulu.  We  are  fairly  well 
acquainted  with  Japan,  but  we  know  little  or  nothing  about  South 
or  Central  America,  in  so  far  as  news  from  those  countries  is  con- 
cerned." 

He  favored  the  proposal  for  the  establishment  of  a  central 
news  agency  at  Honolulu  at  which  news  from  all  Pacific  lands 
could  be  gathered  and  then  sent  out  to  all  of  the  nations  border- 
ing that  ocean. 


22         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

"All  the  world  knows  of  Kilauea  the  Mighty ;  the  Unsur- 
passed ;  the  greatest  of  the  Lord's  workshops ;  the  ever-active 
and  ever-changing  Volcano.  To  this  Hilo  is  again  the  gateway, 
and  there  is  a  strange  fascination  about  lingering  for  a  day  or 
two  within  so  close  a  distance  of  the  one  thing  one  has  traveled 
thousands  of  miles  to  see. 

"Those  who  have  the  time  do  not  fail  to  explore  the  confines 
of  the  great  Hawaiian  National  Park,  for  within  them  may  be 
found  a  veritable  education.  Visitors  will  grow  acquainted  with 
wonders  they  have  never  before  dreamed  of.  They  will  visit 
many  old  craters,  some  so  remote  that  the  very  birds  will  come 
and  perch  upon  the  shoulder  of  the  intruder  out  of  sheer  curios- 
ity. They  will  find  broad  parklands  within  which  are  magnificent 
trees  of  strange  species ;  and  they  will  find  also  spreading  areas 
of  prehistoric  tree  ferns,  green  and  cool  and  lovely,  made  for 
dreaming  and  rest  and  quiet  thoughts  away  from  the  fretful 
tongues  of  street-bred  people. 

"Go  also  beyond  the  National  Park;  go  down  in  your  auto- 
mobile over  the  lava-ravaged  country  leading  to  the  South; 
through  the  sugar  lands  and  to  peaceful,  dreamy  Waiohinu  where 
Mark  Twain  once  upon  a  time  sojourned  and  of  which  he  had 
many  tender  memories.  Go  still  onward  across  the  savage  lava 
flows,  into  the  deep  tropical  forests.  Even  here,  in  the  midst  of 
so  much  intense  beauty  of  color  and  foliage,  you  will  be  reminded 
that  the  Lord  is  great,  for  here,  in  the  midst  of  the  forest,  you 
will  find  the  road  running  between  great  and  high  banks  of  lava 
which,  but  a  few  short  months  ago,  were  flaming  and  twisting 
and  groaning  as  they  ground  their  relentless  way  down  the 
mountain  side  into  the  distant  sea. 

"And  so  you  will  come  to  Kona,  with  its  succession  of  vil- 
lages so  close  that  one  cannot  tell  where  one  begins  and  the  other 
leaves  off.  Here  you  are  in  the  very  midst  of  ancient  history, 
and  on  every  side  along  the  sun-drenched  and  sleepy  coast  you 
will  find  yourself  encompassed  about  with  the  long-dead  past. 
Give  way  to  the  lesson  it  will  bring  you,  and  enter  for  a  while 
into  the  lives  of  the  people  of  these  parts,  and  so  learn  to  return 
to  the  world  more  filled  with  loving  kindness  to  your  fellows. 

"After  this  you  may  go  onward  to  the  highlands  of  Kohala 
where  the  splendid  cattle  and  horses  rule  the  country  and  roam 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  23 

the  huge  slopes  of  Mauna  Kea.  North  Kohala  should  claim 
you  for  at  least  a  day  or  two,  for  here  is  more  ancient  history 
combined  with  magnificence  of  scenery  leading  down  to  the 
bluest  of  seas ;  and  presently  you  will  come  to  Waipio,  of  all 
the  great  valleys  incomparably  the  greatest  and  the  best.  No 
one  could  put  into  words  the  teachings  of  Waipio.  Go  to  it ;  go 
down  the  trail  into  its  village  and  meet  its  people ;  learn  its  leg- 
ends and  visit  its  waterfalls  and  its  beaches.  You  will  not  re- 
gret it,  for  it  will  prepare  you  for  the  splendid  journey  down 
the  Hamakua  coast  and  back  to  Hilo. 

"Let  the  visitor  who  wants  to  really  see  and  love  the  Hawaiian 
Islands  turn  him  away  from  the  streets  and  get  away  out  into 
the  heart  of  tropical  nature.  Let  him  go  to  Hawaii  where  life 
is  still  primitive  and  unspoiled,  and  let  him  forget  that  there  is 
such  a  thing  as  time.  There  are  guide  books  to  steer  his  foot- 
steps everywhere,  and  even  sign  posts,  though  these  are  unob- 
trusive ;  every  man  he  meets  is  instinctively  his  friend  and  will 
be  at  his  service,  for  that  is  the  spirit  of  Hawaii  always  and  the 
stranger  feels  himself  instantly  at  home  with  nature  in  her  kind- 
liest mood." 


The  steamer  Matsonia  docked  at  Hilo,  Hawaii,  shortly  before 
six  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  October  12,  and  for  many  days 
thereafter  the  delegates  talked  of  little  else  than  the  reception 
tendered  them  by  the  residents  of  the  Crescent  City.  For  hours 
prior  to  the  hour  of  docking  they  had  stood  at  the  ship's  rail  drink- 
ing in  the  beauties  of  the  islands  of  Molokai  and  Maui  which  they 
had  passed  en  route.  And  then  the  reception  at  Hilo.  Typically 
Hawaiian  it  was,  breathing  the  very  spirit  of  Aloha  and  of  the 
famed  hospitality  of  the  Big  Island. 

A  committee  of  fifty  persons,  headed  by  Dr.  Milton  Rice, 
president  of  the  Hilo  Board  of  Trade,  boarded  the  vessel  imme- 
diately after  it  had  docked,  bringing  with  it  several  pretty  young 
women  who  decked  each  of  the  visitors  with  a  lei  fashioned 
from  the  beautiful  crimson  lehua,  entwined  with  the  fragrant 
leaves  of  the  maile.  There  was  no  formality  about  the  recep- 
tion. Everyone  just  shook  hands  and  said  "Aloha"  and  "We're 
glad  to  have  you  with  us"  and  "We're  glad  to  be  here,"  and  the 
delegates  and  the  city  of  Hilo  were  instantly  upon  the  friendliest 
of  terms.     Doctor  Rice  made  no  address  of  welcome.     He  just 


24        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

said  "We  are  glad  you  are  here,  and  very  glad,"  and  those  few 
words  exactly  suited  the  delegates. 

At  about  seven  o'clock  the  delegates  left  the  Matsonia  in  au- 
tomobiles furnished  by  the  residents  of  Hilo  and  motored  to  the 
Hilo  Yacht  Club  where,  in  an  outdoor  theater  under  the  palm 
trees  through  which  the  moonlight  filtered  down,  they  received 
their  first  taste  of  what  might  be  characterized  as  "real  Hawaii." 
An  elaborate  program  had  been  prepared.  There  was  splendid 
singing  by  members  of  the  choir  of  the  famous  Haili  church  of 
Hilo.  Then  there  was  presented  a  series  of  Hawaiian  tableaux 
in  which  the  participants  were  prettily  costumed.  The  Rev. 
Stephen  L.  Desha,  senator  from  the  Big  Island,  and  known 
throughout  the  territory  as  the  "silver-tongued  orator,"  announced 
a  dignified  version  of  the  far-famed  hula-hula  dance ;  and  it  was 
indeed  dignified,  for  the  young  woman  who  went  through  the 
graceful  motions  of  the  dance  that  at  one  time  played  such  a  con- 
spicuous part  in  the  religious  rites  of  old  Hawaii,  was  dressed  in 
a  long-flowing  "holoku"  or  Mother  Hubbard  of  white  material. 
She  wore  no  grass  skirt  such  as  one  sees  during  the  execution  of 
the  vulgarized  version  of  this  dance  on  the  American  stage  and 
in  the  "movies."  There  were  a  number  of  other  symbolic  tab- 
leaux and  dances,  and  additional  singing,  after  which  a  Hawaiian 
quintet  played  several  selections,  and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Desha  recited 
an  ancient  bit  of  Hawaiian  poetry  which  voiced  a  cordial  wel- 
come to  the  Press  Congress  delegates. 

Following  the  entertainment  the  delegates  and  the  Hilo  folks 
spent  three  hours  dancing  on  the  splendid  floor  of  the  Yacht  Club 
to  music  supplied  by  two  Hawaiian  orchestras. 


Early  the  following  morning  the  delegates  took  a  special  train 
at  the  wharf  for  a  ride  along  the  famous  Scenic  Railway  which 
skirts  the  Hamakua  Coast.  The  railway  trip,  always  beautiful, 
was  probably  never  more  so  than  on  that  brilliant  morning.  For 
a  few  miles  the  railway  runs  through  immense  fields  of  sugar 
cane,  the  tourist  now  and  then  catching  glimpses  of  brilliant 
coastal  scenery.  All  at  once,  the  train  would  float  out  into  mid- 
air over  some  marvelous  gulch,  and  then  stop  so  the  delegates 
might  fill  their  eyes  with  the  beauty  of  foam-fringed  sapphire 
sea  and  green-clad  land,  or  of  Mauna  Kea's  hoary  head  looming 
distantly  over  the  treetops.     If  there  is  any  man  in  Hawaii  who 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  25 

knows  his  Hawaii,  it  is  Lorrin  Thurston,  and  he  took  it  upon 
himself  to  point  out  to  the  delegates  the  various  points  of  in- 
terest along  the  line.  He  proved  to  be  a  veritable  mine  of  in- 
teresting information  and  he,  with  R.  W.  Filler,  genial  manager 
of  the  Hawaii  Consolidated  Railway,  had  their  hands  full,  as  it 
were,  explaining  this  and  that  to  the  men  and  women  who  con- 
tinually hurled  a  barrage  of  questions  at  them. 

Returning  to  Hilo  shortly  after  noon,  the  delegates  were  the 
guests  of  the  Board  of  Trade  at  the  Hilo  Hotel,  where  brief 
speeches  were  made.  Immediately  after  there  was  begun  the 
journey  to  the  volcano  of  Kilauea,  that  mighty  workshop  of  na- 
ture lying  far  up  above  the  city  of  Hilo  upon  the  slopes  of 
Mauna  Loa.  Throughout  the  thirty  miles  the  delegates  were 
treated  to  a  wealth  of  semi-tropic  foliage,  passing  through  seem- 
ingly endless  forests  of  giant  tree  ferns  that  flanked  the  con- 
crete boulevard  for  miles.  As  mile  after  mile  flicked  by,  the 
delegates  noticed  a  decided  change  in  the  temperature,  and  as 
higher  elevations  were  reached  it  became  colder.  Overcoats  were 
donned,  and  coat  collars  were  turned  up  to  ward  off  the  cold 
wind  that  swept  down  from  the  lofty  slopes  ahead.  It  was  almost 
dusk  when  the  Volcano  House,  which  rests  upon  the  brink  of 
the  great,  ages  old  crater  that  was  once  a  sea  of  molten  lava, 
was  reached.  It  was  still  light  enough  to  see  the  crater  of  Kilauea 
steaming  in  the  distance,  and  there  was  time  before  dinner  to 
visit  the  sulphur  beds  and  the  enormous  stream  cracks  that  are 
but  a  few  steps  from  the  hotel. 

Dinner  over,  warm  wraps  were  donned  and  the  delegates 
took  automobiles  for  their  first  visit  to  the  crater,  which  is 
reached  over  a  splendidly  paved  road  that  leads  for  seven  miles 
through  a  beautiful  tropical  forest.  Imagine,  if  you  can,  a  mac- 
adamized road  right  up  to  within  a  hundred  yards  of  the  brink 
of  an  active  volcano — a  volcano  that  ofttimes  overflows  and 
spews  molten  lava  over  the  countryside ;  a  tame  volcano,  albeit, 
and  one  that,  in  spite  of  its  many  fretful  moods,  has  never  been 
known  to  injure  a  human  person. 


26        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 


THE  VOLCANO  OF  KILAUEA. 

(Written  for  the  Press  Congress  Book  by  Lionel  W.  de  Vis-Norton,  sec- 
retary of  the  Hawaii  Publicity  Commission.) 

Only  a  few  years  ago  any  man  who  had  stated  that  before  long  the 
sky  would  be  barred  and  streaked  with  the  forms  of  machines  flying  in 
all  directions  and  carrying  men  at  a  hundred  miles  an  hour,  would  not 
only  have  been  put  down  as  a  creature  of  wild  imagination,  but  would 
probably  have  been  examined  as  to  his  mental  condition. 

In  the  same  way,  a  man  who  can  say  that  he  has  been  to  hell  and 
back  in  an  excellent  automobile  would  perhaps  be  classed  as  a  prevaricator, 
but  the  skies  today  are  the  highways  of  flying  men,  and  as  for  the  rest, 
gentle  reader,  I  have  made  the  trip;  have  made  it  unscathed  and  have  re- 
turned from  it  with  the  greatest  reluctance. 

It  has  been  well  said  that  the  road  to  hell  is  paved  with  good  intentions ; 
for  my  own  part,  I  found  it  paved  with  macadam,  and  superbly  laid  mac- 
adam, too ;  the  broad  path  that  leadeth  to  destruction  led  only  down  a 
gentle  grade  and  then  round  a  sweeping  curve  to  the  brink  of  hell  itself. 
I  got  out  of  my  automobile,  walked  a  few  yards,  and  then  I  had  arrived 
at  the  end  of  my  journey. 

But  let  me  get  back  to  the  beginning  of  my  story. 

Far  away  in  the  uttermost  West  of  all  things,  just  where  the  setting 
sun  sinks  to  rest  in  the  sapphire  seas,  heaven  is  situated.  Heaven  is  di- 
vided into  the  loveliest  fleet  of  islands  that  lies  moored  in  any  ocean,  and 
it  is  in  the  loveliest  of  all  these  lovely  islands  that  hell  may  be  found. 

And  the  name  of  this  land  is  Hawaii ;  giving  its  name  to  all  the  other 
islands  of  the  group,  yet  superbly  alone  in  beauty,  in  grandeur  and  in  his- 
torical antiquity.  A  land  of  perennial  summer,  where  the  heat  does  not 
distress  nor  the  cold  make  itself  felt.  A  land  filled  with  such  pictures 
of  sea  and  sky  and  plain  and  mountain,  such  magnificence  of  landscapes, 
such  bright  sunshine  and  tempting  breezes,  such  fragrant  foliage,  such 
brilliant  colorings  in  bush  and  tree,  and  such  dazzling  moonlight  as  may 
be  found  in  no  other  land  within  the  human  ken. 

Conjure  up  a  memory  of  the  most  perfect  May  day  that  God  ever  made, 
when  sunshine,  soft  airs  and  the  fragrance  of  blossoms  and  smiling  na- 
ture combine  to  fill  the  heart  with  thankfulness;  conjure  up  this  sort  of 
a  day,  multiply  it  by  three  hundred  and  sixty-five,  and  you  have  an  idea 
of  the  climate  which  the  whole  year  round  pervades  the  surroundings  of 
hell. 

Hell  occupies  an  area  of  nearly  four  and  one-half  square  miles,  and 
no  one  has  yet  been  able  to  estimate  the  depth  of  it,  but  the  heaven 
which  surrounds  it  covers  4,000  square  miles,  and  every  square  foot  of 
every  square  mile  is  beautiful.  Within  its  confines  you  will  find  great 
snow-capped  mountains;  rising  to  height  of  14,000  feet  above  the  sea; 
hundreds  of  magnificent  waterfalls,  set  in  scenes  of  rarest  beauty;   won- 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  27 

derful  stalactite  caverns ;  weird  craters ;  old  and  recent  lava  flows ;  thermal 
lakes ;  wild  canyons ;  ancient  "heiaus"'  or  temples  of  native  worship ;  dense 
tropical  forests  and  restful  glades  of  tree  ferns  which  make  the  tree  ferns 
of  other  lands  look  like  pygmies ;  quaint  survivals  of  primitive  native  life ; 
the  glamor  of  the  orient;  the  gorgeous  coloring  of  the  tropics,  and  a 
wealth  of  greenery  and  freshness  to  be  found  nowhere  else  in  all  the 
world. 

But  I  write  not  of  heaven,  but  of  the  other  place,  and  of  my  visit 
there.  It  was  on  a  sunny  summer  morning  that  I  was  borne  away  from 
the  snug  harbor  of  Honolulu  on  the  journey  to  heaven,  or  rather  to  Hawaii. 
The  steamer  was  comfortable  to  the  verge  of  luxury;  the  chef  was  an 
artist,  and  the  smooth  seas  over  which  we  slid  for  the  rest  of  the  day 
were  most  conducive  to  the  sound  sleep  which  marked  the  hours  of  the 
night. 

In  the  roseate  glow  of  a  tropical  sunrise,  next  day,  we  came  to  Hilo, 
the  chief  city  of  Hawaii,  and  the  gate  to  Paradise.  It  is  tempting  to  dwell 
upon  that  city  and  its  magnificent  setting;  one  could  write  much  of  the 
gloriously  lovely  little  cocoanut  island  which  guards  the  harbor  entrance, 
but  we  are  bound  for  hell  direct,  and  must  not  linger  by  the  way. 

Perhaps  it  is  here  I  should  explain  that  hell  has  another  name,  and  that 
name  is  Kilauea,  the  largest  and  most  easily  accessible  active  volcano  in 
the  world.  This  sounds  tame  enough,  but  I  prefer  to  give  it  the  name 
generally  conferred  upon  it  by  those  who  first  look  from  its  brink  into 
the  appalling  spectacle  beneath. 

And  now  to  get  on  with  the  tale.  The  automobile  which  was  to  con- 
vey me  to  the  verge  of  hell  was  in  waiting  at  the  wharf  at  Hilo  as  I 
came  ashore,  and  in  a  few  moments  we  were  speeding  rapidly  over  one 
of  the  most  perfect  roads  it  has  been  my  good  fortune  to  experience.  I 
will  say  nothing  of  the  drive  of  thirty  miles,  though  I  could  fill  a  volume 
with  rhapsodies  about  the  scenery;  suffice  it  to  say  that  in  an  hour  and  a 
half  we  suddenly  emerged  from  the  dense  forest  of  palms  and  tree  ferns, 
fifty  feet  high  and  more,  and  found  ourselves  at  the  entrance  of  a  modern 
hotel,  built  on  the  very  edge  of  utter  devastation  and  awe-inspiring  vast- 
ness  and  ruin.  The  change  is  simply  astounding.  It  takes  tlie  breath 
away,  and  I  can  well  believe  that  nowhere  else  may  an  equally  sudden  con- 
trast be  experienced. 

The  hotel  stands  on  a  wide  shelf,  actually  within  the  outer  wall  of 
the  main  crater,  though  apparently  upon  its  very  brink.  Away  to  the 
right  soars  the  gigantic  bulk  of  Mauna  Loa,  or  Long  Mountain,  nearly 
fourteen  thousand  feet  high  and  the  largest  mountain  of  its  type  in  the 
world.  It  rises  in  a  magnificent  sweep,  its  great  flanks  deeply  scarred 
with  the  dark  lines  of  old  and  recent  lava  flows,  checkered  with  patches 
of  forest  lands  and  open  greensward.  As  a  color  study  alone,  it  provides 
a  spectacle  unique  in  the  history  of  mountain  countries,  and  whether  seen 
at  daybreak  in  the  cold,  clear  morning  light,  or  in  the  rosy  glow  of  the 
sunset  sky,  it  is  always  most  beautiful.  It  is  perhaps  best  viewed  at  the 
moment  when  the  setting  sun  dips  beneath  its  mighty  crest,  for  then  the 


28        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

fleecy  clouds  of  steam  rising  from  its  still  active  crater  shine  like  silver 
in  the  upward  reflected  rays,  crowning  the  mountain  with  a  magnificent 
diadem  of  jewels;  but  at  all  times  it  dominates  the  landscape,  and  ever 
the  eye  turns  toward  it  in  wonder,  tinged  with  awe. 

Directly  in  front  of  the  hotel,  separated  only  from  the  brink  by  a 
narrow  road,  lies  the  main  crater  of  Kilauea,  and  here  the  task  of  descrip- 
tion becomes  difficult  indeed. 

Imagine  a  pit  so  vast  that  the  further  edge  may  be  only  dimly  discerned ; 
a  pit  fully  five  hundred  feet  deep,  with  perpendicular  walls  nearly  eight 
miles  around ;  turn  into  this  pit  a  raging  sea,  with  dashing  breakers,  seeth- 
ing whirlpools  and  confused  cross-currents ;  color  it  slate  gray,  and  sud- 
denly turn  it  to  stone  so  that  all  movement  is  instantly  arrested.  Now,  in 
the  midst  of  this  solid  sea,  dig  a  jagged  hole  in  the  center  of  the  world, 
release  the  molten  masses  and  the  roaring  fires  which  underlie  the  crust 
of  this  globe  of  ours ;  let  loose  a  gigantic  column  of  smoke  and  steam, 
spouting,  bellying  and  eddying  everlastingly  into  the  skies  above,  you  may 
perhaps  gain  a  faint  but  a  very  faint,  impression  of  the  main  crater  of 
Kilauea  and  the  fire  pit  "Halemaumau,"  the  "House  of  Everlasting  Fire." 

It  is  immense  beyond  words ;  incredible  beyond  belief ;  weird  beyond 
description,  and  awful  beyond  human  awe ;  and  yet,  here  on  the  edge  of 
eternity  as  it  well  appears,  is  a  modern  hotel,  whose  very  garden  paths 
emit  sulphurous  steam  and  vapor;  a  hotel  trim,  well-kept,  with  dainty 
flower  beds  and  feathery  tree  ferns  on  the  one  hand ;  and  Kilauea,  grim, 
repellant,  threatening  and  watchful  on  tlie  other  hand.  Hoteldom  on  the 
brink  of  helldom ;  modern  manners  and  white-clad  waiters  on  the  very 
edge  of  untold  centuries  of  irresistible  power  and  widespread  devastation. 
What  a  text  for  a  moralist  preacher. 

The  Road  to  Hell,  or  rather  the  road  to  Halemaumau,  the  fire  pit, 
runs  from  the  hotel  through  the  forest  for  some  seven  miles,  then  by 
easy  grades  into  the  bed  of  the  main  crater,  ending  within  fifty  feet  of  the 
actual  fire  pit,  and  most  people  make  their  acquaintance  with  the  volcano 
by  this  means.  As  for  me,  the  sight  of  that  huge  main  crater  drew  me 
strongly,  and  I  walked  across  its  bed,  returning  in  the  late  night  hour  by 
automobile. 

Oh,  that  walk  across  the  crater!  The  trail  leads  down  from  the  garden 
of  the  hotel,  and  from  its  commencement  to  its  ending  at  the  edge  of 
Halemaumau  is  but  three  miles  in  length,  but  I  venture  to  say  that  no- 
where in  all  the  world  may  be  found  three  other  miles  of  such  unique  and 
vivid  interest.  The  first  quarter  of  a  mile,  with  its  descent  of  five 
hundred  feet,  is  somewhat  steep,  but  is  easily  negotiated  either  on  foot 
or  on  horseback,  and  the  bottom  is  soon  reached.  Upon  setting  out  from 
the  shore  (the  simile  is  irresistible)  the  traveler  finds  that  the  way  is 
smooth  and  carefully  marked  with  stones  placed  upon  the  surface  of  the 
lava,  so  that  there  is  no  possibility  of  straying  into  dangerous  spots. 

I  do  not  believe  that  these  danger  spots  are  very  many,  and  indeed  it 
would  be  difficult  to  find  them,  but  one  remembers  that  one  is  now  walk- 
ing across  the  crater  of   an  active  volcano,   and   that  is  quite  enough   to 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  29 

remove  all  desire  to  try  experiments  in  looking  for  dangerous  places. 
The  great  sea  of  lava,  which  from  the  hotel,  five  hundred  feet  above,  looks 
almost  perfectly  smooth,  is  now  found  to  comprise  hills  and  valleys  in 
bewildering  confusion  and  in  every  imaginable  form.  One  can  plainly 
see  how  each  successive  lava  flow  has  poured  over  its  predecessors,  solidify- 
ing as  it  poured,  so  that  here  are  crested  breakers  arrested  in  the  act 
of  breaking ;  great  clots  of  foam,  lines  of  ripples  or  cross-currents ;  there 
are  enormous  bubbles  that  have  turned  to  stone  even  as  they  burst — bubbles 
sometimes  covering  an  acre  or  more,  with  fractured  sides  and  broken 
roofs,  the  fragments  of  which  are  spread  around  in  every  direction.  One 
comes  across  mounds  which  have  burst  at  the  summit  and  which  one  may 
climb  to  gaze  into  the  darkness  of  unknown  depths  and  sense  the  mystery 
of  strange  puffs  and  wisps  of  sulphur-laden  steam.  Here  and  there  are 
hardy  little  ferns  growing  in  tiny  crevices.  Terrific  chasms  and  earth- 
quake cracks  are  crossed  by  wooden  bridges,  and  now  and  again  one  may 
find  in  sheltered  cracks  the  golden  spun  lava  (like  glistening  cobwebs  wet 
with  dew),  which  is  known  as  "Pele's  Hair,"  and  is  supposed  by  the 
Hawaiian  natives  to  be  the  farflung  tresses  of  the  presiding  goddess  of 
the  volcano,  whose  home  is  in  the  depths  of  Halemaumau  itself.  Onward 
and  upward  leads  this  fascinating  trail,  and  finally  it  emerges  upon  the 
very  brink  of  the  great  fire  pit. 

And  here  one  feels  the  limitations  of  language,  for  no  words  could 
describe  nor  brush  depict  the  dread  majesty  of  this  terrific  pit,  roaring 
and  bellowing  in  inconceivable  grandeur.  One  is  positively  stunned  by  the 
immensity  of  it  all,  and  one  realizes  in  no  uncertain  degree  the  puny  part 
man  plays  in  the  great  sclieme  of  the  creation  of  the  universe  in  which  he 
lives  and  moves  and  has  his  being. 

One  stands  upon  a  deeply  serrated  ledge  and  looks  down  with  awe- 
struck eyes  upon  a  seething  maelstrom  of  whirling  smoke,  which  ever  and 
again  is  violently  torn  asunder,  permitting  a  fleeting  glimpse  of  flame  and 
red  hot  waters  far  beneath.  Even  amid  the  awful  roaring  one  may  hear 
titanic  splashings  and  the  crash  of  incandescent  rock  hurled  forth  by  the 
forces  beneath,  to  fall  back  into  the  tortured  abyss  from  whence  it  came. 

One  is  fascinated,  appalled  and  amazed  as  one  gazes  at  this  marvelous 
sight ;  one  grows  bolder  and  creeps  to  the  extreme  edge,  and  presently  is 
rewarded  by  clearer  glimpses,  gaining  a  better  idea  of  the  spectacle  under- 
lying the  streaming  column  of  smoke  which  ever  soars  high  above  one's 
head  and  drifts  away  upon  the  trade  wind  to  the  distant  sea. 

And  so  the  hours  pass  away  in  intense  interest;  darkness  comes  on 
apace,  and  by  slow  degrees  the  "pillar  of  cloud  by  day"  becomes  "the  pillar 
of  fire  by  night,"  and  the  fires  begin  to  appear  at  their  grandest.  One 
looks  straight  down  into  a  lake  of  molten  gold,  for  all  the  world  like  a 
peep  into  a  gigantic  Bessemer  convertor.  But  this  lake  is  in  violent 
motion.  Its  great  waves  dash  from  side  to  side,  and  foam  into  cataracts 
of  fire  over  the  red-hot  rocks.  Ever  and  again  the  whole  surface  is 
riven  and  from  its  depths  arise  wondrous  fountains  of  fire,  roaring  up- 
wards in  devilish  merriment,  and  flinging  far  and  wide  their  awful 
freight  of  molten  stone. 


30        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  whole  aspect  changes  with  bewildering  frequency ;  at  one  moment 
there  appears  a  calm  lake,  glowing  as  with  the  light  of  some  glorious  sun- 
set; the  next — every  evil  power  that  Satan  possesses  is  let  loose  in  one 
roaring  inferno,  far,  far  more  awful  than  anything  my  poor  words  could 
ever  describe.  Fountains  and  sprays,  billows  and  whirlpools,  crashings  of 
tortured  rock,  cataracts  of  incredible  force,  twistings,  doublings  and 
writhings  until  the  brain  reels  and  the  senses  are  almost  numbed. 

For  hours  and  hours  I  sat  on  the  rim  of  hell  and  watched  in  a  numb 
and  nameless  wonder;  for  hours  I  witnessed  the  terrific  forces  at  work 
in  the  creation  of  the  world ;  one  could  only  describe  it  as  primal,  for  it 
was  the  beginning  of  all  things,  the  world  in  a  state  of  chaos,  and  yet  it 
was  also  final,  for  it  was  the  last  stage  of  our  human  understanding  and 
the  realization  of  all  the  terrors  of  the  hell  of  our  childhood's  belief. 
For  hours  I  sat,  silent  and  still,  and  then,  suddenly,  I  caught  sight  of  an 
awful,  silent  eye,  one  huge  watchful  orbit  of  crimson,  a  hundred  feet  or 
more  above  the  molten  lake,  red-hot,  evil,  intense  and  utterly  bestial.  It 
was  like  the  glaring  eye  of  some  poor  wild  beast  who,  after  years  of 
hopeless  imprisonment,  had  at  last  found  the  way  of  escape  and  was 
waiting  there  for  some  passerby,  ready  to  spring  forth  in  one  pent-up 
bombshell  of  relentless  hatred. 

My  better  judgment  told  me  it  was  only  a  hole  filled  with  red-hot  lava 
ready  to  pour  into  the  lake  beneath,  but  though  I  laughed  at  it,  and  even, 
in  my  frailty,  threw  futile  stones  at  it  and  affected  to  scorn  it,  it  eventually 
got  hold  of  me,  and  drove  me  away.  Twice  I  returned  and  tried  to  for- 
get it  was  there,  but  it  was  of  no  avail,  and  so,  beaten  and  ashamed,  I 
turned  away  and  made  my  way  to  the  road  close  by,  where  the  automobile 
was  waiting. 

And,  so,  after  a  rush  of  twenty  minutes  over  a  satin  slipper  road, 
I  found  myself  back  at  the  hotel,  where  the  smiling  faces  of  my  fellow 
guests  seemed  all  unreal.  I  do  not  think  I  slept  much  that  night.  It  is 
not  an  easy  thing  to  go  to  hell  and  come  back  in  a  day,  and  there  was  so 
much  to  think  about.  I  suppose  my  main  impressions  are,  now  that  the 
first  awe  has  died  away,  that  this  earthly  hades  is  as  unique  as  it  is  in- 
credibly marvelous ;  that  it  is  ridiculously  easy  to  get  to,  and  that  the  cost 
is  but  trivial. 

From  San  Francisco  one  may  reach  it  in  one  week ;  from  Vancouver,  B. 
C,  in  about  a  day  longer,  and  from  Australia  in  just  two  weeks.  The 
volcano  of  Kilauea  is  almost  unknown,  while  Honolulu  is  a  household 
word.  It  is  but  fifteen  hours  by  steamer  to  Hilo  at  the  Gate  of  Paradise, 
and  every  foot  of  the  way  after  that  is  interesting  right  up  to  the  cul- 
minating point  at  the  brink  of  hell.  The  feeblest  person  may  make  the 
journey;  no  one  has  ever  been  injured,  and  no  fatality  is  ever  likely  as  far 
as  human  eye  can  see  or  brain  foretell. 


Delegates  to  the  Press  Congress,  after  obtaining  their  first 
glimpse  of  hell   (as  Mr.  Norton  describes  it),  were  wholly  un- 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  31 

willing  to  leave.  As  the  crater  on  the  evening  in  question  was 
not  violently  active,  and  as  there  was  an  absence  of  the  strong 
sulphur  fumes  which  usually  are  being  blown  upwards  and  out 
over  the  rim,  practically  everyone  walked  a  good  quarter  of 
the  distance  around  the  rim,  thus  being  able  to  view  the  floor  of 
the  crater  from  a  number  of  interesting  angles.  The  level  of 
the  crater  floor  at  that  time  was  considerably  low,  but  there  was 
sufficient  fire  play  to  furnish  an  awe-inspiring  exhibition  of  na- 
ture's pyrotechnics.  Now  and  then  a  great  area  of  the  cooled 
crust,  unable  to  withstand  the  terrific  heat  from  beneath,  would 
melt  suddenly,  and  its  place  would  be  taken  by  a  lake  of  bril- 
liantly glowing  molten  lava  which  would  send  up  great  foun- 
tains and  geysers  of  white  hot  rock.  A  number  of  great  cracks 
opened  up,  sending  forth  huge  jets  of  steam  that  sounded  for  all 
the  world  like  a  thousand  locomotives  blowing  off. 

From  early  evening  until  midnight  the  delegates  kept  their 
vigil  on  the  rim  of  the  mighty  crater,  marveling  at  the  sight 
which  was  presented  as  a  full  moon  arose  and  cast  its  golden 
light  over  the  already  weird  surroundings.  The  return  to  the 
Volcano  House  was  made  by  automobile. 

The  following  morning  the  party  entered  waiting  automobiles 
and  visited  the  crater  again,  it  having  been  the  desire  of  the 
general  committee  that  they  view  the  spectacle  both  at  night  and 
by  daylight.  During  the  night  the  volcano  had  increased  some- 
what in  activity,  and  the  visitors  were  treated  to  many  new  and 
strange  scenes,  as  well  as  a  splendid  view  of  the  surrounding 
countries. 

After  about  an  hour  of  investigation,  the  delegates  gathered 
on  a  smooth  place  near  the  rim  and  heard  an  interesting  and 
enlightening  lecture  on  Kilauea  and  its  moods  and  activities  by 
Dr.  Thomas  A.  Jaggar,  Jr.,  the  noted  volcanologist,  who  is  in 
charge  of  the  volcano  observatory  at  Kilauea.  There  was  but 
little  concerning  Kilauea,  and  the  scientific  work  that  is  being 
done  in  and  about  the  great  crater,  that  was  not  explained. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  lecture,  the  delegates  were  taken  to 
the  magnificently  beautiful  fern  forest  that  lies  near  Kilauea, 
past  many  an  ancient  and  dead  crater  whose  steep  sides  are  now 
densely  wooded.  The  largest  of  these,  "Kilauea  Iki,"  or  "Little 
Kilauea,"  is  more  than  one  thousand  feet  deep,  and  its  immense 


32        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

bottom  of  lava  that  cooled  centuries  ago  is  to  the  spectator  gazing 
over  the  rim  as  but  a  mere  speck. 

The  fern  forest  is  truly  tropical — dense,  cool  and  with  a 
myriad  of  strange  trees,  plants  and  palms  confronting  the  visitor 
everywhere.  One  climbs  down  and  down  before  the  bottom  is 
reached,  over  a  path  that  passes  through  a  veritable  jungle.  The 
sun  is  blotted  out  by  the  dense  foliage,  and  the  cool  semi-twilight 
is  refreshing  indeed  after  several  hours  upon  the  hot  edge  of 
the  nearby  volcano.  Here,  as  Norton  might  put  it,  is  a  tiny 
tropical  paradise  within  a  few  steps  of  hell.  Aloft  in  the  trees 
strange  birds  of  red,  orange,  green  and  yellow  plumage,  flit  to 
and  fro  emitting  strange  cries.  Along  the  trail  strange  fruits 
grow  side  by  side  with  the  familiar  thimbleberry. 


From  Hawaii  the  Press  Congress  delegates  and  other  guests 
went,  on  the  Matsonia,  to  Maui  Saturday  morning,  October  15. 
For  two  days  the  Valley  Islanders  unfolded  one  by  one  their  own 
program  of  entertainment  and  of  trips  which  allowed  the  visitors 
to  gain  a  further  idea  of  the  territory's  conditions  and  problems. 
The  visitors  saw  the  Maui  county  fair ;  they  traveled  past  Maui's 
great  cane-fields ;  a  party  went  up  to  the  summit  of  lofty  Halea- 
kala  on  an  unforgettable  horseback  excursion ;  there  was  a  luau 
at  the  national  guard  armory  at  Lahaina;  they  saw  baseball, 
boxing  and  swimming. 

A  number  of  Honolulans  as  well  as  the  big  committee  of 
Maui  citizens  went  out  on  a  lighter  to  meet  the  Matsonia  in  the 
harbor  and  escort  the  visitors  ashore.  Joseph  H.  Gray,  editor 
of  the  Maui  News,  was  chairman  of  the  Maui  reception  com- 
mittee. President  H.  B.  Penhallow  of  the  Maui  Chamber  of 
Commerce  headed  a  delegation  of  business  men,  and  Mrs.  W.  A. 
Baldwin  was  chairman  of  the  Maui  Women's  reception  committee. 

Mr.  Gray  spoke  briefly  to  the  visitors  assembled  on  the  upper 
deck  of  the  Matsonia,  giving  them  a  hearty  greeting,  and  Frank 
P.  Glass,  Sr.,  of  Birmingham,  Ala.,  U.  S.  A.,  responded  for  the 
visiting  newspapermen. 

Mr.  Glass  said  that  the  Press  Congress  delegates  had  come 
to  Maui  with  eyes  open,  ears  open  and  wills  open,  ready  to  learn 
sympathetically  of  the  island  problems. 

The  governor  of  the  territory,  Wallace  R.  Farrington,  and  a 
former  governer,  George  R.  Carter,  went  out  with  the  Maui  Com- 


-lAMKS   W  lilGHT  BROWN, 


Kditou  of  The  Editor  and  Puulisiiek.  New  Yokk  City, 

The   Secretarii-Treasiircr  of   the   Cuiigicss. 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  33 

mittee.  Mr.  Carter  came  to  Maui  as  one  of  the  judges  at  the 
fair.  Governor  Farrington  arrived  on  the  Claudine  early  Satur- 
day morning.  His  aide,  Capt.  Henry  P.  Beckley,  had  come 
over  the  previous  Wednesday. 

At  the  fair  grounds  the  visiting  party  divided.  One  large 
party  made  up  for  the  trip  to  the  summit  of  the  great  extinct 
crater  of  Haleakala. 

One  visiting  newspaper  man,  Hugh  J.  Powell,  of  Coffeyville, 
Kansas,  U.  S.  A.,  after  seeing  the  sun  set  over  the  mountains  of 
West  Maui,  and  simultaneously,  in  the  east,  across  the  vast,  dark 
floor  of  the  mighty  extinct  crater,  a  full  moon  rise  above  the 
rolling  clouds,  and  then,  this  morning,  the  sun  rise  again,  wrote 
in  the  Haleakala  guest  book: 

"Here  I  saw  the  end  of  a  perfect  day  and  the  perfect  be- 
ginning of  another." 

Twenty-six  members  of  the  Press  Congress  party  made  the 
trip,  among  them  several  women.  More  would  have  gone  but 
for  the  fact  that  accommodations  in  the  rest-house  at  the  top  are 
limited.  Those  who  went  by  automobile  to  Olinda,  and  thence 
by  horseback  to  the  top,  came  down  Sunday  declaring  they  had 
witnessed  scenic  beauties  never  surpassed  in  grandeur,  loveliness, 
charm,  and  variety.  Their  many  adjectives  were  called  forth  by 
the  rapidity  with  which  the  immense  seas  of  clouds  on  all  sides 
of  the  lofty  old  mountain  changed  in  form,  and  changed  in  color 
under  the  rays  of  sun  or  moon ;  and  by  the  majesty  of  the  pan- 
orama unrolled  when,  as  often  happened,  the  clouds  were  swept 
away  by  driving  wind,  and  the  lower  parts  of  Maui,  or  the 
loftier  summits  of  Mauna  Kea  and  Mauna  Loa,  on  Hawaii,  were 
seen  afar  in  the  clear  air. 

Frank  B.  Cameron  and  A.  B.  Brown  of  Maui  were  the  of- 
ficial escorts  on  the  trip  acting  for  the  Maui  committee,  W.  A. 
Clark  and  William  Walsh. 

The  ride  down  the  mountain  on  the  morning  of  October  16 
was  made  in  quick  time.  At  Olinda  the  party  was  met  by  autos 
and  taken  to  the  Matsonia.  Mr.  Brown  answered  hundreds  of 
questions  about  Haleakala  and  Maui  and  he  and  Mr.  Cameron 
were  asked  to  express  to  the  Maui  committee  the  deep  apprecia- 
tion of  the  Press  Congress  party  for  the  Haleakala  trip.  Mr. 
Cameron  was  in  charge  of  transportation,  meals  and  sleeping  ar- 
rangements. 

3 


34         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Only  those  who  reahze  the  difficulties  of  getting  supplies — 
not  only  food,  but  fuel  and  bedding — to  the  rest-house  for  such 
a  large  party,  can  truly  appreciate  how  well  the  Maui  men  did 
it. 

Counting  guides,  the  party  totalled  forty-two.  This  was  more 
than  first  expected,  and  to  get  the  ponies,  hurry-up  calls  were 
sent  out  to  Maui  ranches.  As  a  result,  the  party's  mounts  and 
the  cowboy  guides  were  from  several  ranches,  including  Halea- 
kala  Grove  ranch  and  the  Hawaiian  Commercial,  Paia  and 
Wailuku  Sugar  Company  plantations. 

The  party  rode  from  Kahului  to  Olinda  in  automobiles,  and 
there  the  ponies  were  waiting.  The  ride  up  the  sloping  ranges 
was  a  beautiful  one.  The  summit  was  reached  just  before  sun- 
set, and  already  supper  was  being  cooked  by  men  sent  on  ahead. 
Ample  supplies  of  food  and  bedding  had  been  packed  in  a  day 
previously. 

As  the  sun  set,  a  full  moon  arose  in  the  east  and  shone 
throughout  a  long  and  wonderful  evening.  The  guests  were  loath 
to  go  to  bed.  After  supper  they  staged  an  impromptu  song-and- 
dance  entertainment  in  the  moonlight. 

They  were  awakened  at  five  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  Oc- 
tober 16,  and  had  just  time  for  breakfast  before  the  sun  rose 
over  the  crater.  The  only  flaw  in  perfect  weather  conditions 
was  a  light  fog  which  came  up  after  breakfast,  making  photog- 
raphy difficult.  Otherwise  the  weather  was  perfect,  with  that 
variety  of  cloud-play  which  best  sets  ofif  the  character  of  Halea- 
kaia. 

For  the  visiting  journalists  and  women  who  did  not  go  to 
Haleakala,  there  was  provided  a  full  afternoon  and  evening  on 
October  15.  After  a  lunch  at  the  cafeteria  on  the  fair  grounds, 
they  took  in  the  afternoon  program  at  the  fair — livestock  parade, 
horse-racing,  baseball ;  had  dinner  on  the  Matsonia ;  and  were 
back  in  time  for  the  evening  program  at  the  fair. 


Maui  county's  fourth  annual  fair  was  undoubtedly  the  best 
yet  held.  Not  only  is  the  fair  ground  at  Kahului  a  model  in- 
stitution in  the  quality  and  permanency  of  its  equipment,  but  the 
general  layout  and  arrangement  of  the  large  exhibition  build- 
ings, fine  board  roadways  and  ornamental   planting  is   an   ob- 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  35 

ject  lesson  which  other  fairs  might  well  pattern  after.  True 
to  the  fair  management's  broad-minded  policy,  all  the  islands 
were  invited  to  exhibit  this  year  as  in  the  past,  with  the  result 
that  some  fine  exhibits  were  brought  in.  The  Parker  ranch  sent 
18  head  of  very  fine  Hereford  beef  cattle.  Oahu  likewise  con- 
tributed some  choice  stock.  The  poultry  exhibit  was  extensive 
and  the  finest  yet  shown  on  Maui.  The  commercial  exhibits 
from  Honolulu  alone  occupied  most  of  one  large  exhibition 
building  and  were  a  credit  to  the  enterprising  business  houses 
which  participated.  Aside  from  the  extensive  and  excellent 
public  school  exhibits  shown  in  the  territorial  building  of  the 
fair,  together  with  the  always  interesting  home  economics  ex- 
hibits which  were  received  this  year,  a  fine  showing  was  made  in 
the  agronomy  section,  occupying  a  building  forty  by  one  hundred 
feet.  The  exhibits  of  fruits  and  vegetables  in  particular  were 
never  so  extensive  as  this  year.  The  exhibits  of  field  crops  also 
showed  up  well.  Special  emphasis  was  given  to  forage  crops  in 
general  and  to  the  new  forage  and  green  manuring  crop,  the 
pigeon  pea  in  particular.  Grove  ranch  installed  an  attractive  booth 
devoted  entirely  to  the  pigeon  pea,  serving  hot  pigeon  pea  soup 
to  all  visitors. 

The  several  agricultural  scientific  institutions  of  the  territory 
made  fine  educational  exhibits  in  the  agronomy  building.  These 
included  the  experiment  station  of  the  H.  S.  P.  A.,  which  showed 
a  lot  of  realistic  paintings  of  standard  varieties  of  sugar  cane, 
as  well  as  actual  specimens.  The  Hawaii  (U.  S.)  experiment 
station  illustrated  its  various  activities  in  agronomy,  agricultural 
chemistry,  horticulture  and  extension  work,  in  a  most  attractive 
manner.  The  territorial  board  of  agriculture  and  forestry  oc- 
cupied a  central  position  with  its  exhibit  of  forest  trees,  nursery 
stock  and  specimens  of  sawed  logs  to  show  the  various  grains. 
The  entomological  and  animal  industries  exhibits,  together  with 
a  series  of  fine  photographs,  made  this  an  instructive  and  very 
entertaining  exhibit. 

The  University  of  Hawaii  occupied  a  wall  and  bench  space 
of  eight  by  twenty  feet.  All  the  activities  of  the  university  were 
illustrated  by  a  splendid  collection  of  photographs.  The  college 
of  agriculture  showed  photographs  of  its  best  dairy  animals,  to- 
gether with  records  of  their  high  performance  in  milk  yields, 


36        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

which  are  second  to  none  in  the  territory.  Growing  field  crops 
showed  the  possibiHties  of  diversified  agriculture  in  Hawaii. 
The  central  photograph  of  the  university  campus,  including  the 
university  farm  together  with  the  series  of  pictures  of  the  main 
building  and  associated  buildings,  were  a  revelation  to  many 
visitors.  Laboratory  interiors  of  chemical,  botany  and  engineer- 
ing divisions  with  students  at  work  made  another  interesting 
feature.  The  athletics  of  the  university  and  a  picture  of  the 
entire  student  body,  as  well  as  the  large  incoming  freshman  class, 
were  amplified  by  the  ingenious  photograph  showing  the  sub- 
stantial growth  of  the  university  since  its  establishment  in  1908. 
A  special  feature  of  this  exhibit  included  photographs  taken  in 
the  art  division  of  ceramics,  batiks,  wood  blocking  and  em- 
broidery. 

An  interesting  exhibit  of  chaulmoogra  oil  and  its  derivatives 
as  prepared  under  the  direction  of  Dr.  A.  L.  Dean,  president  of 
the  University,  attracted  much  attention,  and  doubtless  did  much 
to  emphasize  the  importance  of  the  place  the  university  holds, 
not  only  in  the  territory,  but  in  the  world  at  large. 


In  the  evening  there  was  a  concert  by  the  Coast  Artillery 
Band  and  at  eight  o'clock  "A  Night  in  Hawaii"  was  presented 
under  the  direction  of  William  K.  Hoopii. 

Simple  in  its  makeup — just  a  program  of  twelve  familiar 
Hawaiian  songs,  and  a  tableau  portraying  some  of  the  kings, 
queens,  princes  and  princesses  of  the  islands, — yet  enacted  with 
a  precision  that  spelled  careful  attention  to  details,  it  made  a 
lasting  impression  upon  the  audience  that  packed  the  grandstand 
of  the  Maui  County  Fair  and  Racing  Association,  with  its  color- 
ful setting,  picturesque  costumes,  dreamy  music  and  splendid  sing- 
ing. Delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  who  heard  the  singing  and 
saw  the  tableau  were  delighted.  They  were  unstinting  in  their 
praise  of  the  sweet  voices  of  the  members  of  the  chorus,  more 
than  one  hundred  in  number.  There  was  a  distinct  charm  about 
it — some  subtle  thing  that  played  upon  the  heartstrings  and 
held  the  attention  of  the  listener  until  the  last  note  had  died  away. 

It  was  a  cosmopolitan  chorus,  and  one  in  which  youth  and 
middle  age  joined  in  the  business  of  making  song.  Probably 
more  than  half  a  dozen  races  and  mixtures  of  races  were  rep- 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  37 

resented  among  the  songsters,  yet  the  Hawaiian  predominated. 
The  program  was  made  up  of  a  number  of  songs  that  one  rarely 
hears  in  these  days  of  New  York  manufactured  "popular"  com- 
positions, and  when  "jazz"  is  striving  to  inject  itself  into  Hawaiian 
music. 

The  singers  were  for  the  most  part  young  men  and  women 
who  are  connected  with  the  schools  of  Maui,  either  as  teachers 
or  students.  The  women  wore  white  dresses  and  yellow  leis. 
They  were  directed  by  William  K.  Hoopii,  who  is  an  authority  on 
Hawaiian  music  and  who  has  made  for  himself  a  reputation  in  the 
organization  and  training  of  choruses. 

Each  song  was  rendered  in  a  highly  pleasing  manner  and 
with  delightful  and  perfect  harmony.  The  song  program  was  as 
follows :  "E  Hanai  Ai,"  chorus ;  "Kalakaua  Serenade,"  Mrs. 
Freudenberg  and  chorus ;  "Pulupe  Nei  He,"  Mr.  Hoopii  and 
chorus ;  "O  Oe  No  Ka  I  Ike,"  Miss  Namau  and  chorus ;  "Laau 
Hoolulu  I  Ke  Kino,"  Mrs.  Freudenberg  and  chorus ;  "Ane  Hila," 
Miss  Chan  Wa  and  chorus ;  "Ua  Like  No  A  Like,"  Mrs.  Fuller 
and  Chorus;  "Malu  I  Ke  Ao,"  Mr.  Hoopii  and  chorus;  "Mauio 
No  Ka  Oi,"  Mrs.  A.  Garcia  and  chorus. 

One  of  the  pleasing  features  of  the  program  was  the  "Song 
of  the  Islands,"  which  was  in  charge  of  Mrs.  W.  H.  Field.  As 
the  name  of  each  island  was  mentioned  in  song,  a  Hawaiian  girl 
entered  bedecked  with  flowers  of  leis  representing  the  island. 
Islands  and  flowers  represented  were :  Hawaii,  lehua ;  Maui,  rose ; 
Oahu,  ilima ;  Kauai,  mokihana ;  Molokai,  kuki ;  Lanai,  kanaoha ; 
Kahoolawe,  hinahina ;  Niihau,  shells ;  Molokini,  represented  by  a 
tiny  girl  wearing  leis  of  Jobs  tears. 

Miss  Kapoo  gave  a  demonstration  of  the  hula  dance  in  a 
graceful  and  clever  manner,  and  her  efforts  were  rewarded  by 
hearty  applause. 

The  first  figure  in  the  tableau  was  the  Princess  Kaiulani,  the 
part  being  taken  by  Mrs.  Charles  Farden,  who  was  greeted  by 
serenaders.  She  wore  a  white  silk  holoku  and  a  green  maile  lei. 
She  was  followed  by  Mrs.  Kahewa  Seong  as  Queen  Liliuokalani. 
She  wore  a  red  silk  gown  and  a  yellow  feather  lei.  Queen  Emma 
was  represented  by  Mrs.  Mary  Chan  Wa,  who  wore  a  lavender 
gown  and  a  feather  lei.  She  was  greeted  with  an  oli  by  Mrs. 
Hauola.     The  princess  Pomaikalani,  was   represented  by   Mrs. 


38         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Kaiawe  Searle,  who  wore  a  light  gold  gown  and  feather  lei. 
She  was  followed  by  Prince  Leleohukee  (Samuel  Mookini  of 
Lahainaluna  school),  who  was  a  composer  of  love  songs,  a  tal- 
ented musician  and  a  brother  of  King  Kalakaua  and  Queen  Liliu- 
okalani.  Mr.  Mookini  sang  an  old  Hawaiian  ballad,  accompany- 
ing himself  on  a  guitar.  There  was  also  a  little  girl  in  a  grass 
skirt,  who  proved  herself  to  be  a  clever  exponent  of  the  hula 
dance.  Her  daintiness  and  gracefulness  instantly  won  the  ad- 
miration of  the  audience,  and  she  responded  to  two  encores. 
The  Princess  Pauahi  (Bernice  Pauahi  Bishop),  represented  by 
Miss  E.  Namauu,  who  wore  a  black  gown  with  silver  stripes  was 
greeted  with  a  song,  "Pauahi  Lani,"  sung  by  Mrs.  Freudenberg. 
After  the  figures  in  the  tableau  had  taken  their  places  King 
Kamehameha  I.,  represented  by  William  Bray,  attired  in  the 
cloak  and  helmet  costume  of  the  days  of  early  Hawaii,  entered, 
accompanied  by  two  bodyguards,  Mr.  Oana  and  Mr.  Kalepa,  who 
carried  a  spear  and  a  tabu  stick,  respectively.  The  spear  was 
presented  to  the  king,  who  then  took  the  position  that  is  so  well 
known  to  Honoluluans  who  pass  the  statue  in  front  of  the  ju- 
diciary building  every  day. 

This  was  a  signal  for  the  singing  of  Hawaii  Ponoi,  and  the 
entire  audience  stood  and  joined  in  the  chorus.  Just  before  the 
opening  bars  of  the  "Star  Spangled  Banner,"  Uncle  Sam,  who 
appeared  from  some  place  nearby,  stepped  onto  the  platform  and 
clasped  hands  with  King  Kamehameha,  thus  representing  the 
friendship  between  the  Hawaiians  and  the  early  missionaries  and 
the  final  linking  of  the  islands  with  the  United  States. 

"In  all  my  life,"  remarked  a  delegate  after  it  was  all  over, 
"I  have  never  heard  the  'Star  Spangled  Banner'  sung  so  well  and 
so  perfectly  as  those  Hawaiian  people  sang  it." 

J.  J.  Walsh,  between  numbers,  introduced  several  speakers, 
including  Governor  Wallace  R.  Farrington,  who  harked  back  to 
his  newspaper  days  with  a  seat  in  the  press  box ;  General  Charles 
P.  Summerall,  commanding  the  Hawaiian  department,  U.  S.  A. ; 
Rear  Admiral  Edward  Simpson,  commanding  the  fourteenth 
naval  district,  and  C.  L.  Dotson,  one  of  the  delegates. 

"I  am  glad  to  be  here  and  receive  a  share  of  the  welcome 
extended  by  this  wonderful  island  and  its  wonderful  people," 
said  the  governor.  "I  am  delighted  to  be  for  today  a  citizen  of 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  39 

Maui  and  to  say  with  the  rest  of  you,  'Maui  no  ka  oe.'  I  assure 
you  that  this  is  one  of  the  very  best  islands  in  the  territory  of 
Hawaii.  The  only  island  that  comes  anywhere  near  it  is  the 
island  of  Hawaii,  but  perhaps  Oahu  is  a  little  bit  better.  You 
see,  I  must  stand  up  for  my  home  town — or  rather  island. 

"I  want  to  express  my  appreciation  of  the  wonderful  co- 
operation that  I  have  seen  evidenced  here  on  the  part  of  the 
officers  and  men  of  the  army  and  navy.  I  am  sure  you  recog- 
nize here  evidence  of  which  we  have  a  splendid  demonstration 
every  day  in  the  year.  The  army  and  the  navy  are  a  part  of  the 
United  States  and  we  should  never  lose  an  opportunity  to  co- 
operate with  them." 

The  governor  thanked  those  who  were  taking  part  in  the 
"Night  in  Hawaii"  program. 

"I  want  those  delegates  who  have  come  here  from  abroad  to 
know  that  these  beautiful  Hawaiian  songs  will  never  grow  old," 
he  continued.  "They  are  getting  stronger  and  stronger  on  your 
heart  strings.  And  I  want  to  say  here  that  you  can't  jazz  up 
Hawaiian  music,  for  if  you  do,  you  rob  it  of  its  character,  of  that 
something  which  carries  with  it  all  of  the  romantic  atmosphere 
of  Hawaii. 

"You  have  seen  what  can  be  done  here.  You  have  seen  the 
products  of  diversified  industry.  And  I  want  to  compliment  the 
people  of  Maui  on  the  work  they  are  doing  in  the  development 
of  agriculture.  This  is  something  upon  which  we  have  got  to 
depend  in  our  community  life.  There  is  a  tremendous  necessity 
for  the  development  of  the  small  farmer,  and  along  this  line  I 
want  to  say  that  Maui's  name  will  always  be  famous  for  the  de- 
velopment of  the  pigeon  pea." 

"I  have  heard,"  said  General  Summerall,  "that  this  island 
belonged  to  the  Baldwins.  Well,  if  it  ever  did,  they  lost  posses- 
sion this  morning,  because  this  morning  possession  of  it  was 
transferred  to  the  strangers  who  have  entered  your  beautiful 
port.  You  have  made  us  feel  that  we  are  not  strangers,  but  that 
this  beautiful  land  is  ours  for  the  time  being;  and  we  indeed 
feel  that  the  spirit  of  old  Hawaii  has  been  transmitted  back,  not 
only  by  the  splendid  men  and  women  of  the  Hawaiian  race, 
but  by  all  of  the  others  who  dwell  here.  We  all  want  to  come 
again  and,  speaking  for  the  army,  I  am  sure  that  we  will  come 
again.    We  belong  to  all  of  the  islands  and  all  of  the  people,  and 


40        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

it  is  only  because  of  matters  of  administration  and  supply  that 
we  are  placed  in  Oahu." 

Admiral  Simpson,  who  won  a  reputation  among  the  del- 
egates for  a  never-absent  smile,  said  that  the  navy  had  sent  its 
envoys  under  the  sea,  on  the  sea  and  in  the  air  over  the  sea  to 
the  Maui  fair.  Although  the  navy  is  on  Oahu,  he  continued, 
Oahu  is  not  the  only  island  it  desires  to  make  friends  with. 
"After  tonight  I,  a  new  arrival,  am  more  than  eager  to  visit 
your  beautiful  island  and  your  cordial,  hospitable  people  again." 

Following  The  Night  in  Hawaii  entertainment  there  were  two 
boxing  matches  which  were  well  received. 


Sunday  morning  a  sightseeing  trip  was  the  big  event.  Maui 
hosts  were  at  the  wharf  with  their  cars.  The  route  was  from 
Kahului  to  Pala,  thence  up  to  Makwao,  past  the  Maui  polo  field 
and  the  Puunene  mill,  thence  to  Wailuku,  past  Waikapu,  by 
Maalea  Bay,  and  along  the  road  which  skirts  the  sea  between 
Wailuku  and  Lahaina. 

At  Lahaina  an  elaborate  native  feast  was  spread  for  the  vis- 
itors, which  lasted  until  well  along  in  the  afternoon,  when  they 
were  brought  back  to  the  Matsonia  for  dinner.  After  dinner 
they  were  taken  to  the  swimming  tank  installed  by  the  Hawaiian 
Commercial  &  Sugar  Co.  at  Puunene,  where  exhibition  swim- 
ming and  diving  were  given.  Among  the  well-known  swimmers 
participating  were  Duke  Kahanamoku,  champion  sprint  swim- 
mer of  the  world ;  Warren  Kealoha,  champion  backstroke  swim- 
mer of  the  world;  Mariechen  Wahselau,  joint  holder  of  the 
fifty  yard  free  style  title  for  women;  Gay  Harris,  K.  Kelilipio. 
Helen  Moses,  Ruth  Scudder,  Cecily  Cunha,  Christine  Smoot,  and 
divers  R.  K.  Fuller  and  Clair  Tait. 

Maui  men  and  women  were  indefatigable  in  their  efforts  to 
entertain  the  visiting  newspapermen  and  other  guests.  When  it 
is  considered  that  the  community  was  simultaneously  carrying 
out  the  county  fair,  the  success  of  which  taxed  the  transporta- 
tion and  other  resources  of  the  Maui  residents,  the  perfection  of 
the  plans  for  entertainment  was  all  the  more  commendable. 


Monday  the  delegates  attended  regular  Congress  sessions,  in 
the  evening  enjoying  a  band  concert  at  the  Moana  Hotel.    Con- 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  41 

gress  was  in  session  again  Tuesday.  A  "Jamboree  luncheon" 
was  given  at  the  Outrigger  Club  pavilion  at  noon  by  the  Honolulu 
Ad  Club.  There  special  music  and  stunts  provided  amusement. 
In  the  evening  at  the  Moana  Hotel  Dr.  Herbert  E.  Gregory, 
professor  of  geology  at  Yale  University  (on  leave  of  absence) 
and  curator  of  the  Bishop  Museum  at  Honolulu,  lectured  upon 
the  status  and  functions  of  the  Museum  and  the  exploration 
of  the  Pacific  now  in  progress  by  the  Museum  in  cooperation  with 
a  number  of  mainland  institutions.  Dr.  A.  L.  Dean,  President 
of  the  University  of  Hawaii,  delivered  a  lecture  upon  "The  Con- 
quering of  Leprosy  by  the  Use  of  Chaulmoogra  Oil." 


Wednesday  noon  Mrs.  Wallace  R.  Farrington,  wife  of  Gov- 
ernor Farrington,  gave  a  luncheon  for  women  delegates  and 
women  visitors  at  the  Press  Congress.  Automobiles  took  the 
guests  to  the  Country  Club  where  the  affair  was  given.  In  the 
evening  there  was  a  band  concert  at  the  Moana  Hotel. 


At  eight  o'clock  on  the  evening  of  October  20  delegates  to 
the  Press  Congress  attended  a  unique  entertainment  presented 
by  Hawaiian  patriotic  societies  in  the  War  Memorial  Park  at 
Waikiki.  The  "Spirit  of  Hawaii"  revealed  the  early  history  and 
picturesque  island  life.  Feather  capes,  kahilis,  canoes  together 
with  much  Hawaiian  music,  hula  dancing  and  the  recital  of  tra- 
ditions and  legends  made  vivid  the  colorful  life  of  by-gone  days. 

The  program  was  called  "Kahanu  O  Hawaii,"  or  "The  Breath 
of  Hawaii"  and  embodied  events  showing  the  high  degree  of 
civilization  attained  by  the  natives  before  the  advent  of  the  mis- 
sionaries, the  loyalty  to  royal  authority  and  elaborate  ceremo- 
nials. 

"The  Landing  of  the  Shipwrecked  Spaniards  in  1555"  show- 
ed the  traditional  arrival  of  a  Spaniard  and  his  sister  on  the 
island  of  Hawaii.  Harry  F.  Davison  took  the  part  of  the  Span- 
iard, while  the  Spanish  sister  was  portrayed  by  Miss  Olive  Dun- 
can. Samuel  Pupuhi  acted  as  the  king  and  the  queens  were  Mrs. 
Barringer  and  Mrs.  Nauao,  with  Mrs.  David  Hoapili  as  the 
princess. 

The  half  circled  grandstand  of  spectators  were  caught  fast 
held  by  the  mystic  beauty  of  the  night  and  the  setting  of  the 
pageant  of  modern  and  ancient  Hawaii. 


42        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Soft  singing  voices,  haunting  thrumming  of  music  strings, 
and  throbbing  color,  red,  orange,  green,  yellow — 'that  is  what 
the  Press  Congress  delegates  and  2000  other  folks  glimpsed  and 
heard.  Serenading  groups  opened  the  program.  They  stepped 
out  of  the  night  into  the  circle,  troubadoured  the  audience  with 
the  beauty  of  their  voices  and  sensuous  humming  of  their  in- 
struments, and  dropped  back  into  darkness.  Lights  out  then — 
and  the  amphitheater  was  in  cool  darkness.  Stars  overhead,  the 
beating  of  the  water  on  the  shore,  and  the  dry,  pungent  smell 
of  palms.  Dimmed  lights  came  slowly  on,  and  there  on  a  rock 
was  a  slender  girl  in  misty  garments,  "Ka  Hanu  o  Hawaii," 
Breath  of  Hawaii.  She  talked  of  the  spirit  of  Hawaii,  old 
Hawaii,  when  kings  strode  the  highway  and  all  men  were  war- 
riors. In  swift  succession  followed  tableaux  and  music  pictur- 
ing various  historical  events. 

The  Press  Congress  delegates  will  never  forget  that  night,  not 
any  more  than  they  can  forget  a  bewildering  dream  of  beauty. 


The  morning  of  October  21  the  Press  Congress  delegates 
were  entertained  by  a  Pan-Pacific  pageant  in  front  of  the  capitol. 
This  colorful  event  marked  the  opening  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Press 
Conference. 

At  Old  Mission  House  that  afternoon  the  delegates  enjoyed 
a  delightful  tea  given  by  the  entertainment  committee  of  the 
Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference.  At  this  tea  there  was  singing 
by  the  Hawaiian  children  under  the  direction  of  Mrs.  Berringer 
and  Mrs.  Gittel. 


The  biggest  and  what  was  probably  the  best  military  pro- 
gram ever  staged  in  Hawaii  was  given  at  Schofield  Barracks  on 
the  morning  of  October  22  for  the  entertainment  of  the  delegates 
to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World. 

Nearly  every  branch  of  the  service  which  is  stationed  in 
Hawaii  was  represented  in  the  exhibition,  which  included  spec- 
tacular display  of  stunts  by  the  army  airmen.  Every  stunt  which 
has  been  tried  by  airmen  was  exhibited.  The  air  program  in- 
cluded an  aerial  combat,  bomb  raid,  radio  communication  with 
a  radio  hut  on  the  drill  field,  an  attack  raid  and  an  exhibition  of 
the  military  order  of  passing  in  review.  During  the  aerial  com- 
bat the  plants  went  through  all  the  maneuvers  which  are  used  in 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  43 

actual  warfare  and  did  the  stunts  which  have  been  found  to  be 
necessary  in  gaining  the  advantageous  position  in  such  a  combat. 

The  program  was  started  by  a  review  of  all  the  troops  of  the 
Hawaiian  division,  led  by  Brigadier  General  Joseph  E.  Kuhn, 
commanding  officer  of  the  Hawaiian  division.  The  aerial  pro- 
gram came  next  and  then  the  crack  First  Battalion  of  the  Twenty- 
seventh  Infantry  gave  an  exhibition  of  close  order  drill  and 
Butt's  manual.  A  detachment  of  infantry  staged  an  attack  and 
the  program  was  concluded  by  firing  by  the  field  artillery.  This 
number  on  the  program  included  the  laying  down  of  a  rolling 
barrage,  one  of  the  most  wonderful  sights  which  can  be  seen 
during  a  military  exhibition. 

Following  the  military  exhibition,  delegates  were  taken  in 
automobiles  to  Haleiwa  Hotel  for  luncheon,  as  guests  of  the 
Honolulu  Chamber  of  Commerce.  There  was  a  slight  detour 
through  the  pineapple  fields  to  show  the  methods  of  planting  and 
cultivating  pineapples.  Following  the  luncheon,  the  visitors  re- 
turned by  automobile  to  Honolulu  on  the  windward  side  of  the 
island,  coming  up  the  Pali  and  down  the  Nuuanu  valley. 


On  Sunday  morning  special  services  were  held  at  the  Central 
Union  Church  for  Press  Congress  delegates.  The  Rev.  Albert  W. 
Palmer,  pastor,  preached  on  "The  Perils  of  Sensationalism." 

In  the  afternoon  special  street  cars  were  provided  to  take 
the  guests  to  Bishop  Museum,  where  there  was  an  exhibit  of 
Hawaiian  royal  feather  capes  and  cloaks  and  other  relics. 

Sunday  evening  motion  pictures  of  the  Press  Congress  were 
shown  on  the  lawn  of  the  Moana  Hotel. 


All  phases  of  the  pineapple  cannery  industry  were  revealed 
on  October  24  to  delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World. 

The  delegates  were  taken  in  automobiles  first  to  the  plant  of 
the  American  Can  Co.,  Iwilei,  where  they  were  shown  the  various 
processes  through  which  a  piece  of  sheet  tin  goes  before  it 
finally  emerges  in  the  form  of  from  one  to  six  cans.  When  run- 
ning full  blast  the  plant  can  turn  out  100,000  cans  an  hour,  and 
the  average  annual  outturn  has  been  in  the  neighborhood  of  125,- 
000,000  cans. 

Leaving  the  can  factory  the  delegates  passed  into  the  plant 


44        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

of  the  Hawaiian  Pineapple  Co.,  where  they  traced  the  course  of 
pineapples  from  the  time  they  left  the  freight  cars  and  were 
placed  in  the  Ginaca  machine,  until  they  emerged  canned,  cooked, 
labelled  and  ready  for  boxing.  Especial  interest  was  taken  in  the 
Ginaca  machine,  which  peels,  cores  and  trims  the  pineapple. 

At  noon  the  delegates  had  luncheon  in  the  company's  cafe- 
teria, a  big,  cool  roomy  place  on  the  upper  floor  where  sub- 
stantial meals  are  furnished  the  employees  for  five  and  ten  cents. 

Brief  addresses  were  made  by  J.  H.  Kessell,  delegate  from 
Queensland,  Australia,  and  James  Wright  Brown,  of  the  Editor 
and  Publisher,  New  York.  Mr.  Kessell  compared  the  Queens- 
land government  with  that  of  the  United  States,  declaring  that 
the  reason  the  latter  was  so  successful  was  because  it  permitted 
and  assisted  individual  and  collective  private  enterprise.  He 
said  that  the  trip  through  the  can  factory  and  the  pineapple  can- 
nery had  been  a  revelation,  and  that  the  progress  of  the  industry 
was  something  he  would  be  sure  to  tell  the  people  of  Australia 
about. 

H.  L.  Lyon,  in  charge  of  research  work  for  the  Association 
of  Hawaiian  Pineapple  Packers,  gave  an  illustrated  lecture  on 
pineapple  culture,  in  which  he  explained  in  an  interesting  way 
some  of  the  obstacles  that  had  to  be  overcome,  scientifically  and 
otherwise. 


A  Japanese  festival  was  given  at  the  Pan-Pacific  Gardens, 
Kuakini  lane  the  evening  of  October  24. 

Handsome  head  dresses  which  had  never  been  seen  in  Hawaii 
and  which  are  worn  in  Japan  only  by  the  elite  on  festive  occa- 
sions, were  a  feature  of  the  entertainment.  Mrs.  C.  Yada,  the 
Misses  Fumi  and  Kiyo  Yada  and  Mrs.  Naito  of  the  Japanese 
consulate,  together  with  other  prominent  Japanese  women,  wore 
these  headdresses  with  beautiful  kimonos. 

There  was  geisha  dancing  and  singing  in  the  gardens,  which 
were  lighted  with  myriads  of  Japanese  lanterns.  The  atmosphere 
of  festive  Japan  pervaded  the  artistic  plays  and  stunts  of  the 
program.  Opportunity  was  oflFered  to  eat  Japanese  food  in  true 
Japanese  manner,  sitting  on  cushions  at  low  tables. 

This  entertainment  was  given  by  the  Japanese  Women's  As- 
aociation,  of  which  Mrs.  Yada  is  president,  under  the  auspices  of 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  45 

the  Free  Kindergarten  and  Children's  Aid  associations.  The 
money  raised  went  toward  the  building  fund  for  a  new  kinder- 
garten. 


All  delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  and  the  friends  accom- 
panying them  made  a  special  trip  to  the  Oahu  sugar  plantation  on 
October  25. 

The  opportunity  offered  the  delegates  by  the  planters  was  an 
unusual  one,  for  few  persons  have  the  chance  to  visit  a  planta- 
tion under  conditions  which  insure  a  thorough  acquaintance  with 
plantation  work  in  a  day's  time.  The  processes  of  cultivation  and 
the  manufacture  of  sugar  were  shown  as  well  as  the  general  con- 
dition and  the  way  in  which  plantation  workers  live. 

Luncheon  was  served  at  the  home  of  the  manager  of  the  plan- 
tation at  noon.  An  illuminating  address  on  conditions  in  the 
sugar  industry  was  made  by  E.  Faxon  Bishop,  president  of  the 
Hawaiian  Sugar  Planters  Association.  At  1 :30  o'clock  the  party 
was  taken  to  some  of  the  pumping  plants  belonging  to  the  sugar 
company,  then  on  back  to  Honolulu. 


Dr.  Walter  Williams,  president  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World,  received  a  new  honorary  degree  on  October  25,  that  of 
LL.  D.,  which,  as  Riley  H.  Allen,  editor  of  the  Star-Bulletin, 
expressed  it,  means  "Doctor  of  Leis." 

Dr.  Williams  was  guest  of  honor  at  an  informal  meeting  of 
the  Honolulu  Press  Club  at  the  Moana  Hotel  and  delivered  an 
address  upon  education  for  journalism,  dwelling  chiefly  upon 
methods  employed  at  the  School  of  Journalism  at  the  University 
of  Missouri,  the  first  school  of  journalism  in  the  world. 

The  program,  which  preceded  the  address,  included  the  read- 
ing of  two  original  poems  by  Mrs.  Adna  G.  Clarke  and  a  group 
of  songs  by  Mrs.  H.  H.  Blodgett.  Mrs.  John  T.  Warren  pre- 
sented Dr.  Williams  with  a  huge  blue  pencil,  symbol  of  the  pro- 
fession of  journalism,  and  read  a  clever  parody  on  Kipling's 
"L'Envoi." 

One  of  Mrs.  Clarke's  poems  dedicated  to  Dr.  Williams,  fol- 
lows: 


46        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

We'll  miss  his  smile — Press  Congress  of  the  World, 

A  paper's  parts  that  all  who  run  may  read ; 
The  grave  ones  editorials  hot-hurled, 

The  gay  ones  comic  supplements  that  plead 
Their  little  space  to  sordid  cares  beguile ; 
We'll  miss  his  smile. 

We'll  miss  his  smile — his  smile  of  quiet  mirth ; 

His  gavel  in  the  room  where  Congress  met 
To  solve  the  mighty  problems  of  the  earth 

With  East  and  West  in  mid-Pacific  met 
In  conclave  on  Oahu's  jeweled  isle ; 
We'll   miss   his    smile. 

We'll  miss  his  smile — when  on  the  waters  wide 
His  good  ship  takes  her  way  across  day's  rim, 

Aloha's  leis  returning  to  the  tide 

Suggesting  poignantly  the  charm  of  him 

Whose  presence  blessed  us  for  so  short  a  while ; 
We'll  miss  his  smile. 

After  two  songs  by  John  Hancock,  Mr.  Allen  spoke  briefly 
regarding  the  work  that  has  been  done  by  Dr.  Williams  and  the 
graduates  of  his  school,  and  then  dubbed  him  "Doctor  of  Leis," 
decorating  him  with  a  handsome  yellow  wreath.  Members  of  the 
executive  committee  of  the  club  then  placed  other  leis  about  Dr. 
Williams'  shoulders.  The  meeting  closed  with  the  Press  Club 
yell  and  the  singing  of  "Aloha  Oe." 


Governor  and  Mrs.  Wallace  R.  Farrington  celebrated  their 
silver  wedding  anniversary  October  26,  when  they  were  at  home 
to  their  friends  during  the  afternoon  and  after  8  o'clock  in  the 
evening.  Many  of  the  Press  Congress  delegates  paid  their  re- 
spects to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Farrington  during  the  day.  Tea  was 
served  at  the  Outrigger  Club  during  the  afternoon  and  provi- 
sions were  made  for  the  guests  to  bathe  and  to  use  the  surf 
boards  and  canoes. 


Delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  on  the  morning  of  October  27 
looked  into  Hawaii's  "melting  pot  of  races,"  were  impressed  by 
the  varied  alloy  therein,  and  with  hearty  applause  paid  tribute 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  47 

to  the  work  of  the  public  schools  in  training  children  of  a  score 
of  nationalities  for  the  responsibilities  of  American  citizenship. 

It  was  the  first  public  school  demonstration  since  the  opening 
of  the  Congress.  With  the  broad  playground  of  the  Royal  School, 
shaded  by  large  trees,  as  a  stage,  the  visitors  were  treated  to  a 
colorful  pageant  and  ceremony  in  the  mingling  of  children  repre- 
senting lands  bordering  the  Pacific. 

If  the  delegates  harbored  a  desire  to  inspect  at  first  hand  the 
monster  crucible  in  which  Hawaii  brings  together  under  one  flag 
and  in  harmony  and  contentment  nearly  a  score  of  races  and  racial 
mixtures,  that  desire  was  realized  on  October  27.  For  there  was 
a  real  melting  pot — a  great,  black  cauldron  standing  at  one  side 
of  the  out-of-door  stage — into  which  Liberty  led  her  tiny  charges, 
gorgeous  in  the  native  costumes  of  the  lands  of  their  forbears, 
emerging  a  moment  later  amidst  the  fluttering  of  American  flags. 

Not  before  in  Honolulu  has  there  been  a  more  striking  example 
of  Hawaii's  right  to  the  title  "melting  pot."  Led  by  "Uncle  Sam" 
in  the  person  of  Little  Joseph  Freitas ;  the  spirit  of  education, 
represented  by  Annie  Machado,  and  little  Minnie  Borges  clothed 
in  a  gown  fashioned  from  Star-Bulletins  and  Advertisers,  chil- 
dren representing  China,  Japan,  Korea,  Spain,  Portugal,  Ger- 
many, Russia,  the  Philippines  and  Hawaii,  each  garbed  in  the 
picturesque  native  costume  of  the  land  of  his  ancestors,  filed  up 
to  the  edge  of  the  great  melting  pot,  and  then  climbed  in.  A  mo- 
ment later  they  emerged,  each  carrying  an  American  flag,  and 
were  met  by  the  spirit  of  liberty,  represented  by  Miss  E.  Kirk- 
patrick,  who  took  them  in  charge. 

The  keynote  of  the  demonstration  was  struck  by  "Uncle 
Sam"  who,  as  the  melting  pot  was  receiving  the  racial  units, 
spoke  to  the  delegates  as  follows : 

"Here  she  lies — the  great  melting  pot  of  Hawaii :  Chinese, 
Japanese,  Korean,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  German,  Russian,  Fili- 
pino and  Hawaiian.  How  shall  they  all  unite  to  build  the  Re- 
public of  Man  and  the  Kingdom  of  God?  My  dream  is  that  as 
the  years  go  on  and  the  world  knows  more  and  more  of  America, 
and  shall  know  that  she  puts  human  rights  above  all  other  rights 
and  that  her  flag  is  not  only  the  flag  of  America,  but  of  hu- 
manity !" 

And  little  Miss  Borges,  clasping  tightly  her  bundle  of  news- 


48         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

papers,  turned  to  the  bleachers  in  which  the  visiting  editors,  pub- 
lishers and  newspaper  men  and  women  sat,  and  said : 

"I  am  the  Press.  I  am  a  powerful  force.  I  govern  the  world. 
I  work  for  the  uplifting  of  humanity.  It  gives  me  a  good  op- 
portunity to  help  my  fellow  men.  It  is  my  duty  to  serve  them 
well  because  I  love  my  work  and  my  country.  I  must  see  it 
anything  is  wrong  and  try  to  improve  upon  it.  I  am  a  guiding 
star,  a  warning  headlight  and,  above  all,  the  conscience  of  the 
world." 

The  program  which  was  taken  part  in  by  pupils  from  most 
of  the  larger  city  schools,  and  which  was  under  the  general  direc- 
tion of  Cyril  O.  Smith,  principal  of  the  Royal  school,  opened 
with  a  demonstration  of  organized  play,  following  which  was  a 
pole  drill  by  six  groups  of  girls,  eight  in  a  group,  dressed  in 
white  middies  with  red  ties.  This  was  a  cleverly  executed,  color- 
ful drill  that  received  warm  applause. 

A  massed  chorus,  composed  of  pupils  from  the  Royal  school, 
McKinley  High  School  and  the  Normal  school  and  occupying 
bleachers  on  the  edge  of  the  playground,  sang  "Hawaii  Ponoi," 
the  Hawaii  national  anthem,  while  everyone  stood. 

The  next  event,  the  flag  salute,  was  a  particularly  pleasing 
feature  and  a  striking  demonstration  of  patriotism  in  the  public 
schools.  While  everyone  stood  at  attention,  the  children  being 
formed  on  the  playground,  a  large  American  flag  was  escorted 
to  the  foot  of  the  flag  by  a  guard  of  children,  followed  by  two 
pupils,  one  bearing  a  smaller  national  flag  and  the  other  a 
Hawaiian  flag. 

Each  of  the  guard  of  honor  gave  a  brief  recitation  of  a  pa- 
triotic nature,  and  as  the  flag  was  run  up  the  pole,  the  children, 
at  the  snappy  command  of  a  diminutive  Japanese  Boy  Scout, 
saluted. 

Then  came  calisthenics  and  the  singing  of  "Patriot's  Prayer" 
and  "National  Anthem"  by  the  student  chorus. 


Aloha  chapter  of  the  Daughters  of  the  American  Revolu- 
tion gave  a  tea  on  the  afternoon  of  October  27  at  the  home  of 
the  Rev.  and  Mrs.  W.  D.  Westervelt,  Waikiki,  honoring  the 
women  delegates  and  wives  of  the  delegates  to  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World. 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  49 

The  home  was  exquisitely  decorated  with  hundreds  of  beauti- 
ful pastel-tinted  hibiscus. 

A  charming  and  informal  musical  program  was  heartily  ap- 
preciated. Mrs.  Charles  Hall  sang  a  group  of  Hawaiian  songs. 
The  Kamehameha  Girls'  glee  club  also  gave  several  splendid 
numbers.  Mrs.  Westervelt  gave  a  piano  selection.  In  all  about 
two  hundred  guests  were  assembled.  By  special  invitation  of 
the  Aloha  chapter,  Regent  Mrs.  Douglass,  Dr.  Walter  Williams 
and  the  Rev.  Mr.  Westervelt  were  also  included. 


High  Sheriff  William  P.  Jarrett  was  heartily  applauded  by 
delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  on  the  morning  of 
October  28  upon  the  conclusion  of  a  brief  address,  delivered  in 
the  assembly  hall  of  Oahu  prison,  in  which  he  outlined  the 
work  he  and  his  associates  have  done  to  create  a  model  peniten- 
tiary. 

The  delegates  inspected  the  prison  from  top  to  bottom,  and 
the  inmates  did  a  thriving  business  selling  curios  and  other  ar- 
ticles of  handicraft.  The  visitors  were  especially  pleased  with 
the  cleanliness  of  the  place,  and  with  the  modern  appliances  em- 
ployed, as  well  as  with  the  working  out  of  the  honor  system. 
Tempting  odors  drew  everyone  to  the  kitchen,  where  roasts  and 
stews  were  cooking,  and  the  big  playground,  surrounded  by  noth- 
ing more  than  a  picket  fence,  elicited  exclamations  of  surprise. 

In  his  address  Sheriff  Jarrett  paid  tribute  to  S.  W.  Robley 
of  the  Prison  Aid  Society,  and  to  the  members  of  the  board  of 
prison  commissioners,  for  their  assistance  in  raising  the  institu- 
tion to  a  high  standard. 

The  Pearl  Harbor  Athletic  Club  extended  an  invitation  to 
the  delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  to  attend  their  regular  smoker 
which  was  given  at  the  station  on  the  night  of  October  28. 

Following  the  inspection  of  the  penitentiary  the  delegates 
visited  the  leprosarium  where  science  has  demonstrated  its  ability 
to  arrest  leprosy.  The  delegates  were  particularly  impressed  with 
the  scientific  work  done  and  delighted  with  the  program  of  music 
and  tableaux  given  by  the  patients  in  the  hospital  yard.  The 
charms  of  the  islands  of  the  group  as  represented  by  a  youngster 
in  costume  was  another  pleasing  feature.  Then  came  a  figurative 
illustration  of  the  chaulmoogra  oil  treatment,  dedicated  to  the 
United  States  Public  Health  Service,  and  the  singing  of  a  song 


50        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

dedicated  to  Dr.  Hollman,  formerly  in  charge  of  the  hospital.  It 
was  explained  that  in  old  Hawaii  a  melee  was  always  composed 
of  a  person  who  had  accomplished  some  particularly  noteworthy 
feat  and  that  in  the  composition  of  the  song  an  ancient  custom 
had  been  revived.  There  was  handed  to  Princess  Kalanianaole, 
for  delivery  to  Dr.  Williams  to  be  presented  to  President  Hard- 
ing, a  letter  calling  to  the  attention  of  the  President  the  work 
done  at  the  hospital  through  the  chaulmoogra  oil  treatment. 


"The  Yellow  Jacket,"  from  the  pens  of  George  C.  Hazleton 
and  J,  Harry  Benrimo,  which  was  a  great  stage  success  in  the 
spring  of  1921,  was  staged  again  at  Mission  Memorial  Hall  on 
October  28  under  the  auspices  of  the  Chinese  community,  headed 
by  Consul  Hsu  Shia,  for  Press  Congress  delegates  and  on  Oc- 
tober 29  for  the  general  public. 

The  play,  although  written  by  Occidentals,  is  strictly  a  Chinese 
drama  embodying  the  true  characteristics  of  Chinese  life  and 
philosophy.  It  deals  with  a  mother's  love  of  youth  and  hatred 
of  men — vividly  portraying  the  simple  humor  and  deep  pathos 
of  the  Chinese  people,  their  fancies,  whims,  joys  and  sorrows ; 
and  aptly  bringing  forth  the  conflict  of  the  strength  and  courage 
of  manhood  and  the  weakness  and  selfishness  of  cowardice.  A 
richness  of  philosophy  and  a  wealth  of  emotion  underlie  the  play. 

As  a  background  for  action  are  displayed  the  wonderful  teak- 
wood  furniture,  the  generous  embroideries  and  tapestries  of  old 
China.  Stage  representations  of  the  Chinese  are  shown  in  all 
their  quaintness.  A  bamboo  pole  represents  a  weeping  willow 
tree  from  which  the  hero  of  the  play  hangs  himself.  For  a  moun- 
tain the  property  man  piles  up  a  few  chairs,  for  a  river  a  plank 
placed  over  two  stools. 


The  delegates  visited  Pearl  Harbor  Saturday  morning  Oc- 
tober 29  as  the  guests  of  Rear  Admiral  Edward  Simpson  and 
the  officers  and  men  of  the  Fourteenth  naval  district,  making  the 
trip  from  Honolulu  on  destroyers  and  Eagle  boats. 

The  delegates  were  given  one  thrill  after  another  by  the  spec- 
tacular naval  maneuvers  exhibited  by  the  boats  all  of  the  way  to 
Pearl  Harbor.  The  first  stunt  was  the  assumption  of  a  submarine 
attack  and  the  maneuvers  of  a  vessel  in  repulsing  such  an  at- 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  51 

tack.  The  demonstration  was  carried  out  in  minute  detail  and 
the  delegates  were  given  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the  actual  ma- 
neuvers of  a  battleship  when  attacked  by  submarines. 

Following  this  the  two  Eagle  boats  and  one  destroyer  lined 
up  in  formation  for  escorting  a  transport.  A  submarine  ap- 
peared, supposedly  to  attack  the  transport,  and  one  of  the  de- 
stroyers dropped  a  torpedo. 

The  delegates  were  much  interested  in  watching  the  manner 
in  which  a  torpedo  is  launched  and  in  following  its  course 
through  the  water.  Two  seaplanes  gave  an  exhibition  attack  on 
a  battleship,  having  an  anchored  target  to  represent  the  battle- 
ship. The  seaplanes  dropped  a  number  of  bombs,  all  of  which 
registered  as  hits  or  within  the  range  which  would  have  damaged 
a  ship. 

The  destroyers  demonstrated  the  manner  of  laying  down  a 
smoke  screen  as.  protection  for  a  transport  in  eluding  an  enemy 
submarine.  This  was  followed  by  machine  gim  practice  from  one 
seaplane,  the  target  being  hung  from  another  plane. 

As  the  party  entered  Pearl  Harbor  they  were  met  by  four 
submarines  and  one  seaplane,  which  escorted  them  to  the  dock. 
The  seaplane  gave  an  exhibition  of  making  landings  and  of 
hopping  off.  The  guests  were  then  divided  into  small  parties 
and  escorted  to  points  of  interest  at  the  station. 

They  were  taken  to  the  huge  dry-dock,  which  was  partially 
filled  in  order  to  show  the  manner  in  which  it  was  operated.  A 
naval  officer  guided  each  party  of  guests  and  explained  everything 
of  interest.  The  party  was  taken  to  the  radio  station,  hospitals, 
industrial  departments  and  also  visited  the  submarine  base. 

Shortly  before  noon  a  reception  was  held  in  the  entertainment 
hall  of  Marine  Barracks,  the  reception  being  followed  by  a 
luncheon. 

Felicitations  were  exchanged  when  the  visitors  sat  down  to 
luncheon  in  the  marine  barracks  and  feasted  on  good  navy  "chow." 
Rear  Admiral  Edward  Simpson  told  of  the  pleasure  the  visit  of 
the  newspaper  folk  had  brought  to  the  navy,  and  explained  briefly 
the  desire  of  the  navy  to  co-operate  with  the  civilian  population 
in  every  worth-while  proposition. 

In  response,  President  Williams  of  the  Press  Congress  thanked 
the  admiral  and  his  officers  and  men  for  their  reception  and  ex- 


52        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

hibitions,  voicing  the  appreciation  of  all  of  the  delegates.  He  then 
called  upon  Col.  Edward  Frederick  Lawson,  assistant  managing 
proprietor  of  the  London  Daily  Telegraph,  who  paid  tribute  to 
the  American  navy,  stating  this  was  not  the  first  time  he  had  seen 
demonstrations  of  its  efficiency.  On  behalf  of  the  delegates,  he 
thanked  the  navy,  as  well  as  the  people  of  all  Hawaii,  for  the 
courtesies  shown  the  visitors. 


I 


Hawaii's  races  divided  honors  on  the  night  of  October  29  at 
the  All-Nations'  lantern  parade,  one  of  the  most  spectacular  of 
entertainments  in  honor  of  the  Press  Congress. 

The  three  visiting  delegates  who  made  up  the  committee  of 
judges  awarded  the  prizes  as  follows : 

For  the  best  decorated,  illuminated  auto,  first  prize,  $250, 
won  by  Japanese  community  float  (wisteria  arbor)  ;  second  prize, 
$150,  won  by  Fong  Inn's;  third  prize,  $100,  won  by  Oahu  Rice 
Mill  Co. 

For  best  marching  section,  first  prize,  $150,  won  by  Koreans; 
second  prize,  $100,  won  by  Chinese ;  third  prize,  $50,  won  by  St. 
Louis  College. 

The  Filipinos,  turning  out  for  the  first  time,  made  a  fine 
showing.  St.  Louis  College  won  a  prize  largely  because  of  the 
precision  of  its  marching  step,  and  the  "pep"  shown  by  the  boys, 
who  made  up  for  the  loss  of  their  football  game  to  McKinley 
High  School  a  few  hours  before  by  organized  cheering  during 
the  parade,  which  won  much  applause. 

The  Korean  marching  section,  winner  of  the  first  prize,  fea- 
tured women  and  girls  in  Korean  costume.  The  lanterns  in  this 
section  were  also  unusually  picturesque.  The  Boy  Scouts,  Japan- 
ese and  other  marching  sections,  made  very  good  appearances. 

It  was  estimated  that  close  to  50.000  people  saw  the  parade. 
From  Aala  park  to  the  capitol  grounds  the  streets  were  jammed 
with  people.  Thousands  were  massed  at  Palace  square  and  in 
the  capitol  grounds.  The  stands  erected  for  invited  guests  were 
filled.  For  half  an  hour  after  the  parade  was  over  the  down- 
town streets  were  filled. 


Early  Monday  morning,  October  31,  automobiles   furnished 
by  the  Honolulu  Automobile  Club,  called  for  the  Press  Congress 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  53 

delegates  and  escorted  them  to  Alexander  Field,  Punahou,  where 
the  R.  O.  T.  C.  staged  a  military  tournament. 

The  program  was  in  four  parts — the  battle  of  Alexander 
Field ;  exhibition  of  drills  by  each  school ;  the  assault  on  Rocky 
Hill ;  and  the  review  of  troops  by  Major  General  Charles  P. 
Summerall,  commanding  general  of  the  Hawaiian  department. 
A  regular  army  band  furnished  music  while  the  five  hundred 
student  cadets  went  through  their  maneuvers.  The  Oahu  College, 
University  of  Hawaii,  Kamehameha  School  and  the  Honolulu 
Military  Academy  were  represented  in  the  tournament.  The 
University  of  Hawaii  won  first  place  in  the  tournament. 

Following  the  sham  battles  came  the  silent  manual,  calisthen- 
ics, semaphore  and  mass  singing  of  Kamehameha  cadets  which 
brought  enthusiastic  applause  from  the  spectators.  Honolulu  Mili- 
tary Academy  men  were  appreciated  in  their  exhibition  of  manual 
of  arms  and  Butt's  manual,  while  Punahou  cadets  demonstrated 
bayonet  training  and  mass  games. 

An  impressive  review  before  General  Summerall  concluded 
the  program.  An  army  band  led  the  review,  followed  by  cadet 
corps  from  each  school  bearing  its  flag  and  the  United  States 
flag. 

After  the  exhibition  automobiles  took  the  delegates  on  a  sight 
seeing  tour  about  Honolulu. 

Monday  evening  the  Country  Club  gave  a  ball  for  Press  Con- 
gress delegates  and  visitors. 

Tuesday,  November  1,  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  closed 
its  convention  sessions  and  the  delegates  began  getting  ready  for 
the  return  to  their  homes. 


In  Hawaii  the  long  ocean  highways  meet,  the  highways  that 
link  the  younger  countries  of  modern  civilization  with  lands  but 
now  really  awaking  from  the  lethargy  of  ages.  Here  are  parents 
and  grandparents  from  old  Cathay,  still  speaking  the  tongue  of 
their  ancestors,  proudly  rejoicing  in  the  English  education  of 
their  oflfspring  in  American  public  schools  and  in  many  private 
institutions  of  learning  for  which  Hawaii  is  noted.  The  Japanese, 
while  providing  instruction  for  their  youth  in  the  language  and 
history  of  their  forbears,  encourage  them  in  the  acquisition  of 
English  and  along  all  lines  of  practical  new-world  education. 


54         The  Press  Congress  of  the  IForld 

The  casual  traveler  thinks  of  the  Islands  as  a  group.  But  the 
many  \vor Id- famed  attractions  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands  are  by 
no  means  concentrated  within  an  area  immediately  convenient  to 
hurried  transients  as  they  disembark  at  Honolulu.  Hawaii  is 
indeed  a  "string  of  precious  pearls"  and  each  of  the  live  larger  is- 
lands of  the  principal  eight  has  its  own  particular  attractions.  De- 
lightful climate,  beautiful  scenery,  and  wonderful  formations  are 
common  to  all  the  islands,  but  each  is  also  renowned  for  its 
special  features. 

Oahu,  third  island  in  point  of  area,  is  first  in  importance  be- 
cause Honolulu  is  headquarters,  federal,  territorial,  international, 
financial,  commercial,  trans-oceanic.  Politically  the  City  and 
County  of  Honolulu  embraces  all  of  the  Island  of  Oahu,  to- 
gether with  the  far  outlying  islets  to  the  northwest  of  the  eight 
larger  islands  of  the  chain,  though  the  city  proper,  with  a  popula- 
tion of  about  eighty-three  thousand,  occupies  but  a  comparatively 
small  portion  of  Oahu  on  the  southwest  side. 

Hilo,  capital  city  of  the  largest  island,  Hawaii,  is  the  Terri- 
tory's second  seaport,  a  haven  of  vast  possibilities,  one  hundred 
and  ninet}-  miles,  or  fifteen  hours,  from  Honolulu  by  Inter-Is- 
land steamer.  Hawaii  is  the  only  island  of  the  archipelago  whose 
craters  are  active.  \\'ithin  thirty-one  miles  of  Hilo,  by  scenic 
auto  highway,  earth's  most  spectacular  volcano,  Kilauea,  is  for- 
ever in  action.  Ten  thousand  feet  above  Kilauea's  lake  of  living 
lava,  which  is  itself  four  thousand  feet  above  sea-leval,  Mokua- 
weoweo  crater,  at  the  summit  of  Mauna  Loa,  occasionally  draws 
attention  from  constant  Kilauea  with  a  mighty  exhibition  of  its 
own. 

There  can  be  few  more  lovely  settings  for  any  city  than  Hilo 
is  fortunate  enough  to  possess.  She  nestles  along  the  shores  of 
her  sweeping  Crescent  Bay  beneath  the  slopes  of  mighty  Mauna 
Kea ;  her  buildings  half  buried  beneath  the  cataracts  of  flowers 
and  foliage  which  appear,  from  the  sea,  to  be  surging  over  the 
entire  landscape.  Ashore,  the  fine  concrete  roadways  of  the  busy 
little  city  soon  give  way  to  macadam,  the  delight  of  motorists 
who  will  always  take  their  cars  where  there  are  good  driving 
surfaces.  The  Island  of  Hawaii  is  not  only  the  playground  of 
many  tourists,  but  is  the  leading  island  of  the  group  in  point  of 
production,  its  twenty-five  plantations  producing,  on  an  annual 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  55 

average,  almost  two  hundred  thousand  tons  of  sugar,  while  up- 
wards of  three  million  pounds  of  the  highest  grade  of  fine  coffee 
is  shipped  away  each  year  from  historic  and  lovely  Kona.  Also, 
Hawaii  is  destined  to  be  heard  from  where  men  love  the  fragrant 
and  soothing  weed,  since  the  tobacco  industry  is  growing  rapidly, 
and  Hawaii  tobacco  is  rapidly  establishing  a  place  for  itself  in 
the  marts  of  the  world. 

Wailuku,  Kahului  and  Lahaina  are  the  principal  towns  of 
Maui  Island.  Kahului  is  the  main  seaport  of  the  Valley  Island. 
Lahaina,  once  the  seat  of  royalty  in  the  "days  of  old,"  is  a  noted 
rendezvous  for  fishermen.  Mount  Haleakala  (House  of  the 
Sun)  is  Maui's  biggest  scenic  asset.  The  largest  extinct  or 
quiescent  volcano  in  the  Pacific,  this  ten-thousand-foot  crater, 
easily  holds  second  place  among  the  wonders  of  Hawaii,  ranking 
next  to  fiery  Kilauea. 

And  yet  it  is  vain  to  speak  of  first  or  second  place  among  the 
Island's  marvels,  for  their  individual  characteristics  put  each  in  a 
class  by  itself.  He  beholds  Creation  still  at  work  in  the  "House 
of  Everlasting  Fire,"  at  Kilauea,  and  then  climbs  to  Haleakala's 
highest  rim  to  look  out  upon  Maui  and  other  islands,  or  to  gaze 
down  upon  a  sea  of  clouds  at  sunrise,  or  as  the  sun  declines,  is 
usually  at  a  loss  to  say  which  never-to-be-forgotten  inspiration 
has  impressed  him  the  more. 

Hawaii's  summery  clime  is  well  indicated  by  the  fact  that 
light  summer  clothing,  except  at  high  elevations,  is  worn  from 
one  year's  end  to  the  other.  Between  sea  level  and  the  fourteen- 
thousand-foot  domes  of  Hawaii  Island  almost  any  climate  may 
be  found,  as  between  the  beaches  and  the  ten-thousand-foot 
crater-rim  of  Haleakala,  on  Maui,  and  in  the  four-thousand-foot 
regions,  as  at  Kilauea  volcano,  warmer  clothing  is  required  for 
evening  wear;  but  elsewhere  there  is  little  to  distinguish  winter 
from  summer  except  the  change  in  the  duration  of  daylight  and 
a  greater  degree  of  humidity.  There  are  no  extremes  of  heat  or 
cold  below  the  high  altitudes. 

Most  of  the  world's  sports  flourish  in  Hawaii  and  the  Islands 
afiford  a  wonderful  variety  of  recreation.  In  the  towns  there 
are  many  and  diversified  athletic  associations.  There  are  country 
clubs  with  golf  links,  polo  grounds  and  good  tennis  courts ;  there 
are  race  tracks  and  trap-shooting  butts.  Hawaiian  waters  offer 
ideal  conditions  for  yachting.     Pearl  Harbor's  broad  protected 


56        The  Press  Congress  of  the  fForld 

waters  attract  many  small  pleasure  craft.  Surf  boat  riding,  riding 
the  waves  on  a  specially  shaped  board,  is  a  great  sport.    ' 

Of  the  field  games  baseball  is  monarch. 

In  season  there  is  shooting  for  pheasants,  ducks,  doves,  plover, 
quail,  snipe,  curlew,  mud-hens  and  some  other  birds.  There  are 
deer  on  the  Island  of  Molokai,  while  on  Hawaii,  Maui  and  Kauai 
the  hunter  may  try  his  luck  with  wild  boar,  wild  goats  and  wild 
cattle. 

Hawaiian  swimmers  are  famous  the  world  over.  Island  boys 
and  girls  have  scored  victories  in  the  world's  Olympic  games  on 
numerous  occasions. 

Island  waters  teem  with  game  fish  of  great  variety  and  size 
and  fishing  is  a  great  business  as  well  as  an  interesting  sport. 


I 


Very  little  is  known  of  the  ancient  Hawaiians  except  through 
fragments  of  history  that  have  been  handed  down  by  word  of 
mouth  from  generation  to  generation,  and  which  have  been 
pierced  together  to  form  legends  and  the  "meles"  that  are  now 
but  rarely  chanted. 

An  ofifshoot  of  the  mighty  Polynesian  race  that  has  spread  its 
peoples  of  many  clans  and  tribes  broadcast  throughout  the 
countless  islands  that  dot  the  South  Pacific  from  Hawaii  to 
Easter  Island,  and  from  Tahiti  westward  to  New  Zealand, 
Tonga  and  the  Carolines,  the  Hawaiian  branch  stands  today  as 
the  most  intelligent,  the  most  enlightened  and  the  most  progressive 
of  them  all. 

Where  did  they  come  from?  Science  has  yet  to  answer  the 
question.  One  of  the  two  great  present-day  scientific  problems  is 
the  origin  and  migration  of  the  Polynesian  race,  including  the 
Hawaiian.  Learned  men  who  are  devoting  their  lives  to  the 
cause  of  science  are  now  endeavoring  to  solve  the  problem. 

There  are,  however,  quite  a  number  of  highly  interesting 
theories.  One  is  that  the  Polynesians  originally  lived  along  the 
Asiatic  coast  and  were  forced  gradually  into  Pacific  Island  homes 
by  the  pressure  of  the  tribes  behind  them.  They  made  long 
journeys  in  the  great  double  canoes  about  which  history  has 
much  to  say,  and  the  more  adventuresome  ones  finally  reached 
the  islands  that  now  constitute  the  Hawaiian  group,  laying  the 
foundation  for  what  was  to  become  a  highly  civilized  and  sturdy 
race. 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  57 

Then  there  is  the  theory  of  the  existence  of  a  great  Pacific 
continent  of  which  Hawaii  formed  the  most  northerly  portion. 
Scientists  who  agree  with  this  theory  assert  that  what  are  now  the 
Pacific  islands  were  at  one  time  the  mountain  peaks  of  this  great 
continent.  This  affords  opportunity  for  voluminous  conjecture 
and  discussion.  If  such  a  continent  existed  during  the  age  of 
the  evolution  of  man,  was  it  peopled?  And  are  the  various 
Polynesian  clans  of  today  but  the  remnants  of  a  civilization  that 
flourished  many  thousands  of  years  ago  ?  Or  did  it  exist  prior  to 
the  age  in  question,  and  then  sink,  leaving  only  the  mountain 
tops  as  islands  to  be  peopled  by  wandering  tribes? 

Prof.  William  A.  Bryan,  formerly  with  the  College  of  Hawaii, 
not  long  ago  visited  Easter  Island,  off  the  coast  of  Chile,  where,  he 
declared,  he  found  indisputable  evidence  of  a  Pacific  continent. 
His  findings  would  appear  to  add  weight  to  the  theory  that  the 
Polynesian  race  originated  in  South  America,  and  that  it  was 
from  that  point  that  the  migrations  into  the  Pacific  began.  Pro- 
fessor Bryan's  evidence  was  in  the  form  of  certain  plant  life 
which  he  found  on  Easter  Island,  and  which  he  knew  existed 
also  on  islands  thousands  of  miles  to  the  West  and  Southwest. 

Scientists  are  unanimous  in  the  theory  that  there  was  a  high 
type  of  civilization  in  Hawaii  many  years  before  the  first  historical 
date,  which  is  1555,  when,  histories  say,  the  islands  were  dis- 
covered by  Juan  Gaetano.  They  point  to  the  great  distance  of 
Hawaii  from  the  more  Southerly  islands,  and  from  the  Asiatic 
coast  and  the  coast  of  South  America.  If  the  Polynesian  branch 
that  later  became  the  Hawaiian  race  journeyed  to  these  islands 
in  double  canoes,  as  it  undoubtedly  did,  it  must  have  reached  that 
degree  of  civilization  which  brought  with  it  some  knowledge  of 
navigation,  for  without  this  knowledge,  scientists  say,  such  voy- 
ages never  would  have  been  undertaken. 

Other  evidence  lies  in  the  unpleasant  but  none  the  less  impor- 
tant subject  of  cannibalism.  As  far  back  as  history  goes,  there 
is  no  known  instance  of  cannibalism  among  the  Hawaiians.  It 
is  true,  and  history  and  legend  so  state,  that  during  the  semi- 
barbaric  period  or  periods  prior  to  the  momentous  year  of  1820, 
the  Hawaiians,  upon  the  orders  of  their  chiefs  or  high  priests, 
offered  human  sacrifices  to  their  deities.  But  there  is  absolutely 
nothing  to  indicate  that  a  "long  pig,"  the  term  the  late  Jack  Lon- 
don and  other  writers  of  fiction  liked  to  use,  ever  found  its  way 


58         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

into  their  ovens.  Today  cannibalism  is  still  practised  to  some 
extent  in  the  less  civilized  parts  of  the  Solomons  and  the  New 
Hebrides,  while  in  the  Marquesas,  where  the  custom  has  long 
been  dead,  there  are  a  few  old  men  who  still  boast  of  their  past 
prowess  in  this  respect. 

Recent  scientific  exploration  in  the  Marquesas  undoubtedly 
adds  weight  to  the  theory  concerning  the  early  civilization  of  the 
Hawaiians.  In  that  Southern  group  there  have  been  found  won- 
derful specimens  of  stone  carving — now  apparently  a  lost  art — 
and  the  still  more  surprising  revelation  that  these  specimens  were 
the  work  of  the  ancestors  of  the  present  inhabitants.  In  the 
opinion  of  the  scientist  who  made  these  discoveries — Ralph  Lin- 
ton of  the  Bishop  Museum  at  Honolulu — these  is  ample  evidence 
to  show  that  this  art  was  constantly  improved  upon  as  generations 
came  and  went,  and  that,  when  finally  abandoned,  it  had  reached 
a  surprising  degree  of  perfectness.  And  this,  coupled  with  the 
fact  that  the  Marquesans  used  these  great  blocks  of  stone  in 
their  building  projects,  in  much  the  same  way  that  modern  archi- 
tects employ  statuary,  goes  a  long  way  toward  proving  that  in  the 
Marquesas  hundreds  of  years  ago  there  existed  an  unusually  high 
degree  of  civilization,  Mr.  Linton  thinks. 

Might  it  not  be  so,  then,  that  this  civilization  crept  to  the 
North  and  to  the  Northeast  until  it  sank  its  roots  into  Hawaiian 
soil  and  flourished  and  increased  anew  ?  This,  of  course,  is  mere 
conjecture,  but  it  is  easy  to  imagine  that  ofifshoots  of  the  Mar- 
quesans journeyed  over  the  Pacific  to  Hawaii,  taking  their  primi- 
tive yet  practical  civilization  with  them. 

One  of  the  most  picturesque  of  all  of  the  events  in  Hawaiian 
history  is  that  attendant  upon  the  arrival  at  Kealakekua,  Island 
of  Hawaii,  in  1778  of  Captain  Cook,  the  English  navigator,  who 
is  heralded  as  the  discoverer  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands. 

The  story  is  that  prior  to  Captain  Cook's  arrival,  the  Hawaiian 
god,  Lono,  left  his  people  and  ascended  to  heaven,  but  leaving 
behind  the  promise  that  some  day  he  would  return  to  earth,  and 
that  his  downward  path  would  lie  along  a  rainbow.  When  a 
Hawaiian  priest  emerged  from  his  temple  one  sunny  morning,  he 
saw  in  the  harbor  two  queer-looking  ships ;  and,  strangely  enough, 
above  them  against  the  clouds  was  a  great  rainbow.  The  priest 
instantly  fell  upon  his  knees,  proclaiming  the  return  of  the  god 
Lono. 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  59 

And  so,  when  Captain  Cook  went  ashore,  for  they  were  his 
ships  that  the  priest  had  seen,  he  was  escorted  with  great  dignity 
to  the  temple  of  Lono,  where  he  was  worshipped  as  the  original 
god.  But  the  natives  quickly  found  out  that  Captain  Cook  was  not 
a  deity,  but  a  human  being  like  themselves,  and  their  worshipping 
quickly  ceased.  A  year  later,  in  1779,  the  natives  engaged  in  a 
battle  with  members  of  the  crews  of  the  ships,  in  which  Captain 
Cook  was  killed.  Kealakekua,  where  Captain  Cook  landed,  means 
"The  Pathway  of  the  God,"  and  it  is  here  that  a  monument,  still 
standing,  was  erected  in  his  memory.  It  was  Captain  Cook  who 
gave  to  Hawaii  the  name  "Sandwich  Islands"  in  honor  of  the  Earl 
of  Sandwich  of  England,  who  aided  in  the  financing  of  his 
ventures. 

Hawaii's  latter-day  history  really  begins  when  Kamehameha 
I,  known  as  Kamehameha  the  Great  and  Kamehameha  the  Con- 
queror, and  often  referred  to  as  "The  Napoleon  of  the  Pacific," 
united  all  of  the  windward  islands  of  the  group — Oahu,  Molokai, 
Maui,  Lanai,  Kahoolawe  and  Hawaii — under  one  rule,  with  him- 
self as  the  supreme  sovereign.  This  was  in  1796,  three  years  after 
the  arrival  of  Captain  Vancouver,  another  English  navigator,  at 
Kealakekua.  Many  and  fierce  were  the  battles  which  Kameha- 
meha and  his  great  army  of  warriors,  each  man  not  less  than 
six  feet  in  height  and  trained  to  the  minute,  waged  against  the 
island  chiefs  and  their  followers.  Thousands  of  great  double 
canoes,  manned  by  sail  and  paddle  and  built  especially  for  the 
occasion,  were  used  to  convey  the  conquering  followers  of  the 
great  king  from  island  to  island.  Today,  in  the  Kona  district,  on 
the  Island  of  Hawaii,  may  still  be  seen  the  great,  broad  plain  upon 
which  these  warriors  were  trained.  And  history  says  that  this 
training  was  most  exact,  including  even  a  crude  type  of  military 
formation  and  movement. 

Having  united  all  of  the  islands,  with  the  execption  of  the 
Island  of  Kauai,  King  Kamehameha  settled  down  to  the  business 
of  ruling.  He  was  a  man  of  great  discernment,  and  withal  a  wise 
and  good  king.  While  a  born  ruler  and  warrior,  he  was  also  a 
statesman  and  a  lawgiver,  and  the  wisdom  of  all  of  the  law  li- 
braries is  contained  in  one  of  his  first  decrees :  "Let  the  women 
and  children  and  old  men  lie  down  in  safety  beside  the  highway." 
In  1810  the  Island  of  Kauai  was  ceded  to  Kamehameha  the 
Great,  thus  firmly  uniting  the  entire  group  under  one  sovereign — 


60        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

a  union  that  was  never  afterwards  broken.  Explorers  and  navi- 
gators who  in  later  years  came  to  Hawaii  learned  to  respect  and 
admire  Kamehameha,  and  were  amazed  at  the  high  type  of 
civilization  that  was  flourishing  under  his  wise  rule.  He  died  in 
1819. 

It  was  during  the  year  that  Kamehameha  the  Great  died  that 
the  Hawaiians  effected  upon  their  own  volition  the  greatest  moral 
change  known  to  history.  They  destroyed  their  temples,  their 
idols,  their  religion.  They  broke  the  time-honored  "tabu"  system 
which,  as  an  example,  forbade  the  women  to  eat  with  the  men, 
forbade  the  women  to  eat  certain  kinds  of  food,  and  w^iich  regu- 
lated the  fishing  and  other  industries  of  those  days.  It  was  while 
they  were  in  this  state  that  the  first  missionaries  arrived  from 
New  England  in  1820;  and  the  missionaries  found  the  natives 
easily  amenable  to  accept  the  Christian  faith. 

The  gigantic  task  that  faced  those  noble  men  and  women  who 
journeyed  from  Boston  around  Cape  Horn  in  the  brig  Thaddeus 
needs  no  description  here.  Their  story  has  been  emblazoned  upon 
the  pages  of  history.  They  found  in  Hawaii  a  simple,  friendly 
people  who  responded  eagerly  to  their  teachings.  First  of  all, 
they  had  to  master  the  Hawaiian  language,  and  then  reduce  that 
language  to  a  written  form.  These  things  accomplished,  they 
were  in  a  position  to  teach  the  Hawaiians  to  read  and  write,  and 
then  followed  the  translation  of  the  Bible  into  Hawaiian.  Schools 
and  churches  were  established,  and  within  an  unusually  short 
time  the  native  people  came  under  the  remarkable  influence  which 
paved  the  way  to  a  thoroughly  civilized  Hawaii. 

In  all  of  these  noteworthy  developments  the  printing  press 
played  a  remarkable  role.  EHsha  Eoomis,  one  of  the  mission- 
aries, brought  to  Hawaii  around  the  Horn  a  Ramage  press,  and 
in  October,  1821,  it  was  set  up  in  a  little  coral  stone  house  at 
Honolulu,  ready  to  disseminate  the  written  word  among  a  people 
who,  as  yet,  had  no  written  language.  And  just  one  hundred 
years  later  there  was  held  at  Honolulu  the  second  gathering  of 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World — certainly  a  fitting  celebration 
of  the  centenary  of  the  assembling  of  the  first  printing  press 
west  of  the  Missouri  river.  In  January,  1822,  a  Hawaiian  chief, 
clothed  in  feather  helmet,  "ahuula"  or  cloak,  and  "malo"  bore 
down  upon  the  press  lever  and  the  first  printed  sheet  in  the  whole 
western  hemisphere  was  pulled  from  the  platen. 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  61 

Following  Kamehameha  the  Great  were  eight  rulers,  four  of 
whom  were  of  the  family  of  Kamehameha.  The  entire  line 
was  as  follows : 

Kamehameha  I,  born  in  1737,  reigned  from  1782  to  1819. 

Kamehameha  II,  born  in  1797,  reigned  from  1819  to  1824. 

Regency  of  Kaahumanu  and  Kalaimoku,  1824  to  1833. 

Kamehameha  III,  born  in  1813,  reigned  from  1833  to  1854. 

Kamehameha  IV,  born  in  1834,  reigned  from  1854  to  1863. 

Kamehameha  V,  born  in  1830,  reigned  from  1863  to  1872. 

Lunalilo,  born  in  1835,  reigned  from  1873  to  1874. 

Kalakaua,  born  in  1836,  reigned  from  1874  to  1891. 

Liliuokalani,  born  in  1838,  reigned  from  1891  to  1893. 

Thus  the  Hawaiian  monarchy  was  one  hundred  and  eleven 
years  old.  Queen  Lydia  Liliuokalani  was  deposed  January  17, 
1893,  and  died  November  11,  1917.  She  was  an  exceedingly 
gracious  woman  and  beloved  by  all  who  knew  her.  Following 
annexation  she  was  paid  an  annual  allowance  by  the  United 
States  government.  During  the  last  years  of  her  life  she  lived 
with  a  few  old  faithful  retainers  at  Washington  Place,  now  the 
territorial  executive  mansion,  which  was  built  in  the  forties  by 
her  father-in-law.  Captain  Dominis,  a  ship-owner  in  the  trading 
business.  She  wrote  several  books  and  composed  the  song 
"Aloha  Oe."  She  was  the  sister  of  King  Kalakaua,  last  male 
sovereign  of  Hawaii  who  died  at  San  Francisco  in  1891  while  on 
his  way  back  to  the  islands  from  a  tour  of  the  world. 

Prince  Jonah  Kuhio  Kalanianaole,  last  titular  representative 
of  the  old  monarchy,  died  in  January,  1922,  at  Honolulu.  For 
twenty  consecutive  years,  or  ten  terms,  he  had  represented  Hawaii 
as  its  delegate  to  the  Congress  of  the  United  States.  He  was 
given  a  royal  funeral  at  which  many  ancient  customs  and  cere- 
monies were  revived.  He  was  a  nephew  of  King  Kalakaua  and 
Queen  Liliuokalani,  and  a  prince  by  royal  proclamation  issued 
when  King  Kalakaua  was  on  the  throne. 

The  first  whaleship  arrived  at  Honolulu  the  same  year  the 
missionaries  came,  and  thereafter  for  many  years  the  port  be- 
came a  rendezvous  for  these  vessels.  In  1827  the  first  Catholic 
missionaries  arrived,  laying  the  foundation  for  a  work  that  has 
since  spread  Catholicism  rather  widely  throughout  the  islands, 
and  sent  priests  and  sisters  into  many  notable  avenues  of  en- 


62        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

deavor,  including  education  and  work  among  the  lepers  on  the 
island  of  Molokai. 

In  1836  the  first  English  newspaper,  the  Sandwich  Islands 
Gazette  was  published  at  Honolulu,  and  four  years  later  the 
first  constitution  was  proclaimed.  The  monarch  in  1842  officially- 
recognized  the  independence  of  the  United  States.  Two  notable 
events  occurred  in  1843,  one  being  the  provisional  cession  of  the 
islands  to  Great  Britain,  and  the  second  being  the  restoration  of 
Hawaii's  independence  and  the  Hawaiian  flag  by  Admiral  Thom- 
as, then  in  command  of  the  British  fleet  in  the  Pacific.  The  story 
of  this  latter  incident  is  that  Lord  George  Paulet,  then  in  com- 
mand of  the  British  man-of-war  Carysfoot,  conspired  with  the 
British  consul  at  Honolulu  in  the  preparation  of  spurious  royal 
decrees  in  which  Great  Britain  ostensibly  demanded  the  immediate 
cession  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands.  When  information  concerning 
Paulet's  activities  reached  Admiral  Thomas,  then  at  Valparaiso, 
he  came  immediately  to  Honolulu,  interviewed  the  king,  and  re- 
pudiated Paulet's  actions,  at  the  same  time  formally  restoring 
the  independence  of  Hawaii  and  the  Hawaiian  flag.  The  restora- 
tion was  delayed  several  days,  however,  as  Paulet,  among  other 
things,  had  destroyed  every  Hawaiian  flag,  and  Admiral  Thomas 
had  to  have  one  made  aboard  his  ship. 

In  1849  the  Hawaiian  monarchy  concluded  its  first  treaty  with 
the  United  States,  and  two  years  later  a  protectorate  was  offered 
to  America.  The  first  Mormon  missionaries  arrived  in  1853,  and 
since  then  have  been  exercising  a  laudable  beneficial  influence  in 
the  islands.  Recently  a  handsome  Mormon  temple  was  erected  at 
Laie,  Island  of  Oahu,  where  the  Mormon  colony  and  sugar  plan- 
tation are  located.  This  is  the  second  Mormon  temple  to  be 
erected  outside  of  Continental  United  States,  the  other  being 
in  Canada. 

The  reciprocity  treaty  was  concluded  in  1876.  It  gave  Pearl 
Harbor,  today  one  of  the  world's  greatest  naval  stations,  into 
the  control  of  the  United  States,  and  the  latter  admitted  Hawaiian 
sugar  free  from  duty. 

William  C.  Lunalilo,  who  followed  Kamehameha  V  to  the 
throne,  was  a  grand-nephew  of  Kamehameha  the  Great.  The 
Lunalilo  Home  for  aged  and  destitute  Hawaiians  at  Honolulu  was 
provided  for  in  his  will.     He  was  the  last  of  the  Kamehamehas, 


Hawaii  and  its  Hospitality  63 

and  the  legislature  chose  as  his  successor  the  descendant  of  two 
of  the  great  Kona  chiefs.  This  was  David  Kalakaua.  In  1881 
King  Kalakaua  toured  the  world  to  gather  knowledge  concerning 
the  immigration  of  labor  for  the  sugar  plantations,  the  journey 
being  incident  to  the  reciprocity  treaty. 

In  1887  a  new  Hawaiian  constitution  was  proclaimed  and 
two  years  later  came  the  first  of  a  series  of  insurrections  and 
revolutions,  which  eventually  led  to  the  annexation  of  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands  by  the  United  States.  This  insurrection  was  led 
by  Robert  W.  Wilcox,  who  became  Hawaii's  first  delegate  to 
the  American  Congress,  having  been  elected  upon  a  Home  Rule 
ticket.  King  Kalakaua  died  at  San  Francisco  in  1891,  and  his 
body  was  brought  to  the  Islands  aboard  an  American  warship. 
There  were  no  cables  in  those  days  and  all  Honolulu  had  gathered 
at  the  waterfront  to  welcome  the  king  upon  his  return.  But 
their  joy  was  soon  turned  to  mourning  when  the  news  spread 
that  the  warship  bore  the  dead  body  of  the  monarch. 

In  the  same  year  Liliuokalani  was  proclaimed  queen.  She 
attempted  to  change  the  constitution  so  as  to  restore  the  old 
powers  of  royalty.  In  1893  she  was  deposed,  following  a  revolu- 
tion, and  for  a  time  was  held  prisoner  in  the  old  royal  barracks 
on  Hotel  street,  Honolulu,  now  the  Army  Service  Club.  A  pro- 
visional government  was  established  with  the  Honorable  Sanford 
Ballard  Dole,  Hawaii's  ''Grand  Old  Man,"  as  president.  In  1894 
the  Republic  of  Hawaii  was  established,  with  Judge  Dole  as 
president,  and  in  1895  occurred  another  insurrection  with  a  view 
to  restoring  the  queen.  This  was  suppressed,  and  on  August  12, 
1898,  the  Islands  were  annexed  to  the  United  States  amidst  an 
impressive  ceremony  in  which  the  Hawaiian  Flag  was  lowered 
from  the  staflf  on  the  old  lolani  Palace,  and  the  Stars  and  Stripes 
hoisted  in  its  place.  In  1900  the  Islands  became  a  territory  of 
the  United  States,  and  a  territorial  form  of  government  was 
inaugurated.  Gradually  but  steadily  during  all  of  those  years 
Hawaii  emerged  from  isles  of  isolation  to  isles  of  commercial 
and  strategic  preeminence,  until  today  its  importance  as  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  United  States  is  known  internationally. 


WALLACE  R.   FARRIXGTON, 


(iovEU.NOi:  OF  THE  Tekkitory  of  Hawaii,  V.  S.  A., 

\'ice  I'resideitt  and  (Iciirral  Business  Manager,  Ilunuhilit  tStiir-Bi/lletin, 

Vltainnan.  JIairaiiun  Islands  Executive  Committee. 


IV. 
PROCEEDINGS  OF  THE  CONGRESS. 

FIRST  SESSION. 

TUESDAY  MORNING,  OCTOBER  11,  1921 

The  session  was  called  to  order  by  Walter  Williams,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  who  acted  as  Chairman 
throughout  the  session. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  In  the  absence  of  the  secretary  of  the 
Congress,  Mr.  A.  R.  Ford,  of  the  London  (Canada)  Free  Press, 
I  take  the  liberty  of  asking  Mr.  Guy  Innes,  of  Melbourne,  Aus- 
tralia, to  act  as  Honorary   Secretary. 

I  present  to  you  the  chairman  of  the  local  entertainment  com- 
mittee, who  has  done  so  much  to  make  possible  the  attractiveness 
and  service  of  the  sessions  of  the  Congress,  Mr.  L.  A.  Thurston. 

MR.  THURSTON:  Mr.  Chairman,  we  have  found  by  ex- 
perience in  the  past  in  connection  with  some  of  the  functions 
we  have  had  here  that  no  matter  how  much  we  put  in  print,  some 
of  the  delegates  do  not  seem  certain  as  to  the  program,  and  a 
number  of  questions  have  been  asked  of  me  concerning  going  to 
the  Windward  Islands,  as  to  time  of  departure,  etc. 

Mr.  Thurston  here  made  announcements  of  various  features 
of  the  program  of  entertainment. 

He  was  followed  by  Mr.  L.  de  Vis  Norton,  Secretary  of  the 
Hawaiian  Committee  on  Entertainment. 

TFIE  CHAIRMAN :  W^e  will  now  have  the  report  of  the  tem- 
porary committee  on  credentials,  to  be  presented  by  Mr.  Holling- 
ton  K.  Tong,  of  China. 

MR.  TONG:  Mr.  President,  here  is  a  letter  which  has  been 
prepared  by  the  Committee  on  Credentials  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World,  and  I  think  it  is  best  for  me  to  read  it : 

(65) 


66         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Honolulu,   T.    H. 
October  11th,  1921. 
Dr.  Walter  Williams, 

President  Press  Congress  of  the  World, 
Honolulu,  T.  H. 
Dear  Sir : 

We,  your  preliminary  committee  on  credentials  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  W^orld,  beg  leave  to  report  that  we  have  examined  the  credentials 
submitted  by  the  various  applicants  who  did  not  previously  hold  credentials 
for  appointments  as  delegates  and  have  found  that  the  following  are  en- 
titled to  participate  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Press  Congress  as  duly 
authorized  delegates : 

Mrs.  W.  F.   Frear, 

Mrs.  A.  G.  Clarke,  and 

Mrs.  Emma  Livingston  Reed,  representatives  of  the  League  of  the 
American  Pen  Women. 

Mr.  Chas.  C.  Hadley,  representative  of  the  Governor  of  Pennsylvania. 

Mr.  John  F.  Ness,  representative  of  the  Honolulu  Press  Club. 

The  list  of  delegates  whose  applications  had  previously  been  received 
and  favorably  acted  upon  is  herewith  appended  to  the  committee's  report. 

Yours  respectfully, 

HOLUNGTON     K.     TONG 

Chairman 
Secretary,   RiivEy   H.   Allen. 
For  list  of  delegates  see  Appendix. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  You  have  heard  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee. If  there  are  no  objections  it  will  be  approved  and  the 
Committee  will  be  continued  for  such  further  business  as  may 
come  before  it  in  connection  with  the  credentials  of  delegates.  It 
is  so  ordered. 

Under  the  Constitution  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  it 
is  the  privilege  of  the  Executive  Committee  of  the  Congress  to 
select  at  each  meeting  of  the  Congress  an  Honorary  President,  who 
is  to  be  a  journalist  of  the  country  in  which  the  Congress  holds 
its  sessions.  Acting  upon  this  constitutional  provision,  the  Execu- 
tive Committee  of  the  Congress  selected  as  the  Honorary  Presi- 
dent for  these  sessions  being  held  in  Honolulu,  Territory  of  Ha- 
waii, U.  S.  A.,  a  distinguished  American  journalist, — the  editor 
and  publisher  of  the  Marion  (Ohio)  Star,  who,  incidentally,  is 
President  of  the  United  States  of  America.     (Applause). 

His  election  to  the  Honorary  Presidency  of  this  Congress  was 
presented  to  him  by  two  distinguished  members  of  the  Congress, 
both  former  presidents  of  The  American  Newspaper  Publishers 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  67 

Association,  Mr.  H.  L.  Bridgman,  of  Brooklyn,  and  Mr.  Frank 
P.  Glass,  of  Birmingham,  and  was  accepted  by  President  Harding 
upon  the  visit  of  this  committee  to  the  White  House  in  Washing- 
ton. President  Harding  was  unable  to  attend  in  person  the 
sessions  of  the  Press  Congress,  but  sent  to  the  Congress  by  a 
special  messenger  some  words  of  introduction  to  the  session.  He 
selected  as  his  representative  another  distinguished  American 
journalist,  who  holds  by  his  appointment  and  to  the  joy  of  his 
friends  and  to  the  high  credit  of  this  territory  the  position  of 
Governor  of  Hawaii.  We  had  the  pleasure  of  hearing  him  last 
night  in  a  three-fold  capacity.  He  is  the  fourth  dimension  this 
morning  and  we  hear  him  in  another  capacity,  showing  that  he  is 
a  square  man.  I  have  the  very  distinguished  pleasure  of  pre- 
senting to  you  at  this  time  to  deliver  the  message  of  the  President 
of  the  United  States,  specially  commissioned  by  him,  the  Governor 
of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  journalist  and  gentleman,  the  Honor- 
able Wallace  R.  Farrington. 

THE  HONORABLE  WALLACE  R.  FARRINGTON, 
GOVERNOR  OF  THE  TERRITORY  OF  HAWAII:  Mr. 
President,  fellow  delegates  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World. 
One  of  the  details  of  education  which  I  experienced  in  connec- 
tion with  assuming  the  responsibilities  of  office  in  this  territory, 
was  that  it  was  necessary  for  a  prospective  officer  to  display  his 
credentials  in  order  to  assume  the  office  to  which  he  had  been  ap- 
pointed. I  will  therefore  read  briefly  from  this  preliminary  let- 
ter from  the  White  House,  dated  September  10,  1921. 
My  dear  Governor  Farrington: 

I  am  enclosing  a  letter  herewith  which  I  would  like  to  have  you  read  to 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  and  I  would  like  you  to  read  it  in  the 
capacity  of  my  appointed  representative. 

Very   truly   yours, 
Warren   G.   Harding. 
White  House, 

Washington,  September  10,  1921. 

The  following  is  the  President's  letter : 

White  House,  Washington, 

September  10,  1921. 
My  dear  Governor  Farrington: 

At  one  time  I  dared  hope  that  it  might  be  possible  for  me  to 
come  to  Honolulu  at  the  opening  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World,  and  say  in  person  some  of  the  things  that  I  think  would 


68         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

be  appropriate  on  so  notable  an  occasion.  I  find  it  impossible 
for  me  to  be  away  from  Washington  at  that  time,  and  therefore 
am  asking  you  to  extend  in  my  behalf  the  greeting  of  our  govern- 
ment to  the  delegates,  and  to  assure  them  of  the  great  importance 
we  attach  to  this  world  gathering  of  representatives  of  the 
press. 

I  hope  the  fact  that  I  chance  to  have  been  most  of  my  life 
a  newspaper  man,  will  not  have  distorted  my  judgment  so  far 
as  to  cause  me  to  overrate  the  importance  of  journalism  in  the 
present-day  world.  Not  only  have  the  World  War,  and  the 
events  transpiring  since  the  Armistice,  impressed  us  all  anew  with 
the  use  and  value  of  the  public  press,  but  they  have  demonstrated 
the  possible  danger  which  resides  in  a  press  too  freely  employed 
for  mere  propaganda.  In  the  overwhelming  emergency  of  the 
war,  propaganda  became  a  well-nigh  universal  habit ;  I  might 
almost  say  a  code  among  journalists.  It  was,  of  course,  intended 
to  be  the  propaganda  of  patriotism,  of  devout  nationalism,  of 
well-intentioned  aspiration  for  the  salvation  of  the  best  in  human 
society ;  but  it  was  not  always  entirely  fair,  judicial  or  discreet. 
On  the  whole,  it  served  a  splendid  purpose  in  the  circumstance 
of  war-time ;  but  we  newspaper  men  could  indulge  ourselves  in 
no  more  grievous  error  than  to  assume  that  propaganda  is  the 
first  or  even  a  leading  aim  of  a  properly  conducted  press. 

Your  own  letter,  which  has  just  come  to  hand,  concerning  the 
Educational  Conference  of  this  summer  at  Honolulu,  suggests  to 
my  mind  the  idea  that  might  well  dominate  an  ideally  conducted 
press.  I  cannot  but  feel  that  the  primary  purpose  of  the  press, 
as  a  social  institution,  is  the  opening  of  men's  minds,  rather  than 
the  closing  of  them.  Propaganda  aims  primarily  at  shutting  up 
the  mind  against  other  conclusions  than  those  which  the  propa- 
gandist designs  to  implant.  Education,  on  the  contrary,  aims 
to  open  the  mind,  to  prepare  it,  to  make  it  receptive,  and  to  urge 
it  to  formulate  its  own  conclusions.  Propaganda  would  at  last 
mean  intellectual  paralysis ;  education  is,  when  properly  em- 
ployed, intellectual  stimulus.  It  is  better  that  men  should  think 
than  that  they  should  accept  conclusions  formulated  by  other 
men  for  them. 

We  have  need  in  these  times  that  men  should  think  deeply, 
that  they  should  realize  their  necessity  of  settling  their  own 
problems. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  69 

The  world  has  well-nigh  become  a  great  aggregation  of  democ- 
racies. No  democracy  will  rise  very  far  above  the  level  of  it** 
average  thinking  capacity,  and  no  aggregation  of  democracies 
will  rise  very  far  above  the  average  intellectual  abilities  of  its 
members.  In  short,  democracy  has  come  to  its  great  trial  and 
the  verdict  will  depend  largely  on  its  capacity  to  make  men  think. 
It  is  not  enough  to  say  that  other  systems,  by  their  very  nature, 
discourage  men  from  thinking,  because  they  aim  to  provide  or- 
ganizations at  the  top  to  do  their  thinking  for  them.  That  may 
be  true,  but  it  is  no  answer  to  my  proposition,  that  if  democracy 
is  to  succeed,  it  must  deserve  success  by  proving  that  it  can  in- 
spire the  race  of  common  men  to  serious,  continuous,  eflfective 
consideration  of  the  problems  of  common  men. 

In  this  work  of  education  no  single  force  or  influence  of 
which  we  now  know  can  be  expected  to  exert  so  great  a  potency  as 
the  press.  Perhaps  the  press  never  confronted  so  great  an  op- 
portunity to  demonstrate  its  adequacy  to  this  task,  as  now. 

You  peoples  of  the  Pacific  have  invited  the  Press  of  the  World 
to  be  your  guests,  to  consider  the  problems  of  our  time  and  our 
race.  You  are  meeting  in  a  day  when  the  world  is  looking  for- 
ward to  the  gathering  of  the  Nations  to  consider  limitation  of 
armament  and  the  maintenance  of  world  peace.  If  your  de- 
liberations shall  inspire  a  larger,  a  better,  a  more  humane  view 
of  the  elements  which  enter  into  the  problem  of  peace  and  at 
least  a  measurable  disarmament;  if  you  can  encourage  the  ideal 
of  a  world  permanently  at  peace;  then  you  will  have  given  a 
vast  impetus  to  the  efforts  of  statesmen  who  are  presently  to 
consider  these  problems  in  Washington. 

We  have  heard  much  in  recent  years  about  the  problem  of 
the  Pacific,  whatever  that  may  be.  I  take  it  to  be  merely  a 
phase  of  the  universal  problem  of  the  race,  of  men  and  nations 
wherever  they  are. 

It  is  hard  to  imagine  justifications  in  this  day  and  age,  es- 
pecially in  view  of  the  world's  late  unhappy  experiences,  for 
armed  conflict  among  civilized  peoples  anywhere  and  especially 
among  peoples  so  widely  separated  as  those  on  opposite  borders 
of  the  Pacific.  They  represent  different  races,  social  organiza- 
tions, political  systems  and  modes  of  thought.  Between  them 
and  their  widely  varying  systems,  there  may  well  be  an  amicable 
competition  to  determine  which  community  possesses  the  better 


70        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

and  more  effective  ideas  for  human  advancement.  But  that  there 
should  be  conflict ;  that  warfare  and  controversy  should  inter- 
fere with  this  worthwhile  demonstration  of  the  value  of  dif- 
ferent modes  of  progress,  is  almost  unthinkable.  The  Pacific 
ought  to  be  the  seat  of  a  generous,  free,  open-minded  compe- 
tition between  the  best  ideals  of  eastern  and  western  life;  be- 
tween the  aspirations  and  endeavors  of  the  oldest  and  the  newest 
forms  of  society. 

You  are  meeting  at  the  cross-roads  of  the  Pacific,  amid  all 
the  glamour  and  romance  and  glory  which  have  always  sur- 
rounded the  very  name  of  the  South  Sea.  You  have  an  oppor- 
tunity to  do  a  work  for  humanity,  and  I  believe  you  have  met 
at  a  peculiarly  auspicious  time.  I  could  express  no  greater  hope, 
no  more  earnest  wish  for  your  Congress  than  that  it  might  prove 
the  precursor  of  an  understanding  which  in  our  day,  in  our  very 
tomorrow,  I  may  say,  would  insure  the  peace  of  the  world,  the 
proximate  end  of  the  frightful  waste  of  competing  armaments 
and  the  establishment  of  peace  on  earth,  good-will  toward  men. 

Very  sincerely  yours, 
Warren  G.  Harding. 
Hon.  Wallace  R.  Farrington, 
Executive  Chamber, 
Honolulu,  H.  T. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  message  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States,  the  Honorary  President  of  this  Congress,  so  well 
presented  by  Governor  Farrington,  will  be  referred  to  the  proper 
committee  when  it  is  appointed,  that  the  Congress  itself  may  send 
a  greeting  back  to  the  President  of  the  United  States. 

Now  may  I  ask  your  indulgence  when,  as  your  President. 
I  follow  the  President  of  the  United  States? 

The  Press  Congress  of  the  World  is  an  outgrowth  of  an  in- 
creasing professional  spirit  among  journalists  and  of  an  en- 
larged desire  for  closer  comradeship  and  for  adequate  con- 
sideration of  common  problems.  It  was  organized  in  San  Fran- 
cisco in  1915,  though  in  previous  years  the  way  had  been  pointed 
to  such  an  association  by  international  conferences  and  associa- 
tions meeting  in  Switzerland,  France,  England,  the  United  States 
and  elsewhere. 

In  the  preliminary  session,  during  the  Panama-Pacific  Inter- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  71 

national  Exposition  in  San  Francisco,  representatives  from  twen- 
ty-eight countries  united  in  effecting  an  organization. 

The  Congress  Executive  Committee  selected  at  that  time  ac- 
cepted the  invitation  of  the  government  of  New  South  Wales  to 
hold  the  first  formal  sessions  of  the  new  world  organization  at 
Sydney.  The  continuance  of  the  World  War  deferred  the  meet- 
ing and,  other  conditions  intervening,  it  was  deemed  best  by  the 
Executive  Committee  to  change  the  site  of  the  Congress  and  to 
accept  the  cordial  invitation  promptly  extended  by  Hawaii  to 
hold  the  first  formal  sessions  in  Honolulu. 

No  more  suitable  place  could  have  been  selected  than  this 
beautiful  city  situated  at  the  cross-roads  of  the  Pacific  Ocean — 
may  it  ever  be,  in  fact  as  in  name,  the  Pacific — where  are  to  be 
found  representatives  of  so  many  nations  harmoniously  working 
out  life's  problems.  Let  us  not  permit  the  charm  of  these  Islands, 
of  which  Honolulu  is  the  capital,  "the  loveliest  fleet  of  islands 
anchored  in  any  sea,"  to  divert  our  minds  from  the  possibilities 
of  the  Congress  as  an  instrument  of  service  to  the  profession  to 
which  we  hold  allegiance.  Rather  let  the  charming  and  historic 
setting  which  the  gracious  and  bountiful  hospitality  of  our  hosts 
oi  Plawaii  offers  be  our  stimulant  to  make  of  the  Congress  an 
organization  of  permanent  usefulness. 

The  Congress  today  has  members  in  fifty  countries  and  upon 
its  roll  are  more  than  twenty-three  hundred  representative  jour- 
nalists. 

The  object  of  the  Congress  is  set  out  in  its  constitution :  "To 
advance  by  conference,  discussion  and  united  effort  the  cause  of 
journalism  in  every  honorable  way."  It  seeks  by  interchange 
of  views,  by  discussions,  by  correspondence,  by  acquaintanceship, 
to  enlarge  the  horizon  of  its  members  and  to  bring  to  all  of  them 
added  appreciation  of  the  dignity  and  the  possibility  of  the  profes- 
sion. 

No  definite  limits  are  set  upon  the  meetings  of  the  Congress. 
Whether  they  shall  be  held  triennially,  biennially  or  occasionally 
is  a  matter  to  be  determined  by  this  session  of  the  Congress  or 
by  the  Executive  Committee  under  its  direction.  Whatever  may 
be  the  decision  as  to  the  time  and  place  of  later  sessions,  it  is 
suggested  that  provision  be  made  for  regional  conferences  to  be 
held  annually  or  biennially.  With  propriety,  the  first  of  these 
regional  conferences  may  well  be  organized  during  the  sessions 


72         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

at  Honolulu,  the  Pan-Pacific  Conference,  a  department  of  the 
larger  world-organization,  a  department  having  large  opportunity 
for  usefulness.  Later,  regional  conferences  may  well  be  formed 
in  other  parts  of  the  world. 

The  Congress  should  take  into  consideration  provision  for 
its  future  work,  possibly  the  establishment  of  central  bureaus  of 
information  for  journalists  everywhere,  the  inauguration  of  a 
publication  for  distribution  among  its  members,  and  such  meas- 
ures for  financing  the  permanent  maintenance  of  the  world  or- 
ganization as  may  seem  most  feasible.  Permit  me  to  suggest, 
therefore,  the  prompt  appointment  of  a  special  committee  look- 
ing toward  the  future  organization  and  activities  of  the  Congress 
or  the  reference  of  the  entire  question  with  power  to  the  Ex- 
ecutive Committee. 

That  an  interchange  of  views  on  problems  of  wide  interest 
may  be  undertaken  with  some  definiteness  during  the  present 
sessions,  the  Executive  Committee  has  prepared  an  agenda  which 
proposes  the  discussion  of  these  questions : 

(a)  What  preparation  is  desirable  for  journalism? 

(b)  How  far  is  freedom  of  the  press  necessary  or  desirable 
and  how  may  this  freedom  best  be  attained  and  safeguarded? 

(c)  How  best  may  avenues  for  news  communication  through- 
out the  world  be  established,  maintained,  and  kept  open? 

(d)  What,  if  any,  are  the  obligations  of  journalism  in  ref- 
erence to  international  relations? 

(e)  The  question  of  interchange  of  journalists. 

It  is  not  intended  of  course  that  the  Congress  discussions 
shall  be  limited  to  these  questions,  including,  as  these  discussions 
may,  others  of  importance.  It  is  suggested,  however,  that  these 
questions  be  given  primary  consideration  and  that  ad  interim 
committees  be  named  to  prepare  and  present  at  future  sessions 
comprehensive  reports  upon  them. 

Because  journalism  in  its  product  is  ephemeral,  we  are  too 
apt  to  regard  the  questions  which  affect  it  as  of  only  momentary 
interest  or  concern.  Quite  the  opposite  is  of  course  true.  The 
principles  of  journalism  endure  however  the  application  changes 
with  the  generations  or  however  it  may  vary  in  different  lands. 
The  long  look  helps  to  see  clearly  one's  way  to  the  fulfillment 
of  the  day's  duties.  Like  the  leaves  of  the  tree  which  is  for  the 
healing  of  the  nations,  the  printed  pages  rain  upon  the  earth — 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  73 

let  us  consider  the  tree,  its  soundness,  its  permanence,  and  its 
strength,  not  merely  the  fluttering,  evanescent  leaves. 

Journalism,  in  its  final  analysis,  is  a  profession  of  public  serv- 
ice, not  a  business  or  a  trade,  though  it  may  involve  in  new- 
paper  manufacture  and  sale,  the  trade  of  the  mechanic  and  the 
sagacity  of  the  merchant.  It  is  primarily  a  profession  of 
public  service,  and,  in  this  place  and  presence,  it  may  be  sug- 
gested, a  profession  of  international  service.  If  journalism  be 
a  profession  of  public  service,  then  those  engaged  upon  it  have 
a  common  object — 'the  service  of  the  public;  and  in  international, 
as  well  as  national  relations  there  should  be  the  studious  desire 
to  interpret  the  words  of  others  in  the  best  sense,  to  avoid  what- 
ever widens  breaches  between  nations  and  peoples  and  to  make 
the  most  of  whatever  tends  to  narrow  the  breaches  between 
nations  and  peoples.  To  these  principles  the  journalist  who 
wishes  best  to  serve  internationally  will  seduluously  conform. 

A  distinguished  British  journalist,  Lord  Burnham,  has  said 
that  the  hospitality  of  the  press  should  not  be  denied  on  any 
ground  of  opinion  or  bias.  It  should  not,  he  adds,  be  denied  on 
any  ground  except  that  publication  would  be  dangerous  to  the 
safety  of  the  people — salus  populi — which  in  journalism  should 
be  the  suprema  lex.  Lord  Burnham's  happy  statement  may  be — 
shall  I  not  say  should  be — carried  further.  It  is  not  only  true 
that  no  publication  should  be  made  that  is  dangerous  to  the  safety 
of  the  people,  but  that  every  publication  ought  to  be  made  that 
advances  the  safety,  the  health,  and  the  welfare  of  the  people. 
Evil  may  be  wrought  through  journalism  by  the  suppression  of 
the  good  as  by  the  publication  of  the  bad.  Journalism  should 
keep  open  house  for  every  wholesome  truth  while  the  doors  of 
its  sheltering  space  are  closed  to  the  falsehoods,  under  whatever 
specious  plea  they  come,  which  are  destructive  of  domestic  or 
world  welfare  and  peace. 

"There  is  none  ever  fear  the  truth  should  be  heard 
Save  those  whom  the  truth  would  indict." 

The  great  object  of  a  conscientious  journalist,  said  a  speaker 
at  the  centenary  of  the  Manchester  Guardian,  is  to  make  righteous- 
ness readable.  That  is  only  part  of  the  truth.  The  great  object 
of  the  conscientious  journalist  is  to  make  righteousness  more 
than  readable — to  make  it  obtainable  and  sought. 

Any  consideration  of  the  world's  journalism  with  a  view  to  its 


74         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

betterment  must  take  into  consideration  all  its  tendencies,  good 
and  evil.  Some  evil  tendencies  arise  from  a  low  estimate  of  the 
public's  wishes.  Even  the  skillful  merchant  does  not  give  the 
public  what  it  wants  but  stimulates  demand,  creates  new  and 
different  and  better  wants.  So  journalism  that  seeks  to  give  the 
public  what  it  wants  will  bear  in  mind  the  higher  needs  and  op- 
portunities as  well  as  the  lower  appetites. 

Other  evil  tendencies  arise  from  editorialized  news,  from 
lack  of  personal  responsibility,  from  the  cheapness  and  lowered 
standard  of  vulgarian  journals.  While  these  suggest  tendencies 
for  evil  in  the  world's  press  today,  other,  and,  I  believe,  dominat- 
ing tendencies  are  toward  better  things.  Never  before  has  the 
professional  spirit  of  journalism  been  so  manifest,  never  before 
has  the  press  recognized  itself  so  generally  as  a  profession  of 
public  service.  Individual  responsibility  for  a  social  institution 
attaches  more  and  more  to  those  who  serve  in  any  capacity  in 
journalism. 

We  come  to  a  Press  Congress  that  we  may  learn  and  serve, 
for  every  man  is  a  debtor  to  his  profession,  as  Francis  Bacon 
wrote,  "from  the  which  as  he  seeks  to  obtain  countenance  and 
profit,  so  ought  he  of  duty  by  way  of  amends  to  be  a  help  and 
ornament  thereto." 

Generations  before  the  philosopher  of  the  West,  the  greatest 
sage  of  the  East,  Confucius,  had  given  rules  for  the  service  of  a 
good  writer.  Let  me  put  them  as  corollary  to  the  philosophy  of 
Bacon.  Confucius  wrote  that  he  who  would  be  a  good  writer, 
the  journalist  in  his  time,  should  be  clear  in  vision,  quick  in 
hearing,  genial  in  expression,  respectful  in  demeanor,  true  in 
word,  serious  in  duty,  inquiring  in  doubt,  firmly  self-controlled 
in  anger,  just  and  fair.  Journalists  who  live  by  their  profession 
may  live  for  their  profession  by  putting  into  practice  in  their 
own  work,  accepting  full  personal  responsibility,  the  Confucian 
creed.  We  make  better  journalism  only  as  we  improve  journal- 
ists. 

There  is  another  tendency  in  the  world's  journalism  unto 
higher  service.  More  and  more  it  has  become  the  voice  of  the 
voiceless,  the  tribune  of  the  people.  Victor  Hugo's  glowing 
eloquence  uttered  the  ideal  of  the  journalist  who  would  be  man- 
kind's prophet:    "The  people  are  silence.     I  will  be  the  advocate 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  75 

of  this  silence.  I  will  speak  for  the  dumb.  I  will  speak  of  the 
small  to  the  great,  and  of  the  feeble  to  the  strong.  I  will  speak 
for  all  the  despairing,  silent  ones.  I  will  interpret  this  stammer- 
ing. I  will  interpret  the  grumblings,  the  murmurs,  the  tumults 
of  crowds,  the  complaints,  ill-pronounced,  and  all  the  cries  of 
beasts  that  through  ignorance  and  other  suffering  man  is  forced 
to  utter.  I  will  be  the  word  of  the  people.  I  will  be  the  bleed- 
ing mouth  whence  the  gag  is  snatched  out.  I  will  say  every- 
thing." 

The  journalist  who  undertakes  this  high  mission  will  be  the 
daysman  who  stands  between  the  extremes  of  society.  He  will 
be  the  keeper  of  the  conscience  of  King  Demos  and  woe  be  unto 
him  if  he  neglect  his  primary  duty  to  the  weak,  the  friendless, 
and  those  who  have  no  helper. 

That  we  may  better  realize  our  responsibilities  to  the  world 
in  which  we  live  and  to  our  profession,  that  we  may  be  the  better 
prepared  to  meet  these  responsibilities  through  our  profession  to 
the  world  in  which  we  live  is  the  high  object  of  this  Congress. 

We  are  engaged  in  a  common  profession  with  common  faith 
in  its  high  purpose  and  in  the  possibilities  of  its  service  toward 
the  welfare  of  mankind.  If  we  do  to  the  utmost  our  duty  in  its 
behalf,  wars  would  become  impossible,  the  world  vv^ould  be  tran- 
quilized  and  made  prosperous  unto  more  abundant  living  every- 
where. Men  of  good  will  would  take  the  place  of  men  of  hate. 
It  is  true  and  increasingly  true,  the  whole  quotation  makes  the 
meaning  clear,  that  "beneath  the  rule  of  men  entirely  great,  the 
pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword." 

We  would  change  Fleet  Street  to  a  wider  avenue,  a  high  road 
unto  human  happiness  in  which  all  who  walk  as  well  as  all  who 
ride  may  have  a  chance,  in  which  every  man  and  every  nation 
may  have  a  chance,  and  so  far  as  the  written,  generous  truth  and 
aggressive  comradeship  can  make  it  so,  unto  the  fullest  individual 
and  national  self-realization,  an  equal  chance. 

The  new  world  journalism  is  the  outcome  of  a  new  world 
spirit.  It  is  the  outward  and  visible  sign  of  an  effort  at  self- 
expression.  This  new  world  spirit  is  a  struggle  among  the 
peoples  for  different  relations  to  the  external,  a  conviction  that 
they  should  have  more  to  say  concerning  their  own  fortunes.  Its 
manifestations  are  various.     Its   attitude  is   critical   everywhere 


76        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

and  sometimes  openly  contemptuous.  In  some  lands  it  seeks  re- 
form, in  some  it  inspires  revolt.  So  journalism  is  freakish  in 
some  places  for  a  time  and  revolutionary  elsewhere.  Man  is  not 
made  for  the  established  order,  the  new  spirit  asserts.  The  es- 
tablished order  must  be  made  or  remade  for  man.  Civilization  is 
a  garment.  If  it  does  not  fit  comfortably,  let  us  change  it.  So 
state  and  church,  society  and  business,  school  and  government, 
are  invaded  with  interrogations  if  not  with  axes  by  the  new 
world  spirit.  Of  this  spirit,  at  the  same  time  its  creature  and  its 
creator,  its  prophet  and  its  slave,  is  the  new  world  journalism. 

One  outstanding  significant  and  hopeful  fact  that  any  con- 
sideration, however  slight,  of  the  world's  journalism  today  re- 
veals is  that  journalists  in  every  land  are  more  and  more  possessed 
of  the  conviction  that  their  profession  is  to  be  engaged  in  pri- 
marily for  public  good,  that  they  are  to  be,  whatever  the  personal 
risk,  keepers  of  lighthouses  to  bring  the  world's  peoples  through 
troubled  seas  to  a  safe,  peaceful  and  prosperous  harbor.  This 
conviction  is  wide-spread  and  growing  among  journalists.  That 
it  exists,  and  so  generally,  gives  hope  and  courage  to  all  who 
recognize  the  power  of  journalism  in  the  present  transition  age. 
The  new  journalism  will  have  the  public  for  its  client  and  will 
accept  fee  from  no  lesser  source.  Its  high  purpose  will  be  the 
public  welfare,  not  alone  locally  or  nationally,  but  the  world's 
welfare.  It  will  recognize  that  welfare  is  brought  about  not  by 
commercial  domination  or  by  force  of  arms,  not  by  the  tyranny 
of  a  proletariat  or  an  oligarchy,  of  the  educated  few  or  the  ig- 
norant many,  but  by  that  powerful  comradeship  of  all — that 
genuine  neighborliness — of  which  journalists  themselves  often 
give  to  their  own  personal  and  professional  associates  the  best 
example. 

A  league  of  journalists — keeping  open  and  free  the  avenues 
of  world  communication — and  speaking  just  and  fair  may  do 
even  more  to  preserve  sacred  institutions  of  society,  to  promote 
and  maintain  world  peace,  to  give  large  life  to  all,  than  even  the 
most  skillfully  balanced  league  or  association  of  nations.  In  the 
last  analysis,  public  opinion  rules.  Recorded,  crystallized,  inter- 
preted, expressed  by  journalism,  it  is  supreme.  Ideas,  not  navies, 
rule  the  sea.  Ideas,  not  armies,  dominate  the  land.  Let  us  dis- 
arm the  typewriters  of  the  jingo  press  in  every  land  and  limitation 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  11 

of — nay  abandonment  of — armaments,  even  without  the  Washing- 
ton conference,  is  an  accompHshed  fact.  Without  the  press'  aid, 
whatever  the  wise  men  at  Washington  may  determine,  there  is 
no  peace ;  disarmament  is  an  iridescent  dream.  Increase  the 
avenues  of  communication  between  nations  and  free  news  sources 
from  the  poison  of  interested  propaganda  and  we  thereby  help  to 
make  a  sick  world  well.  Permit  these  avenues  to  be  clogged, 
congested  and  corrupted  and  the  fever  of  war  returns  apace. 
Open  the  door  of  the  Washington  conference  and  of  all  confer- 
ences that  involve  international  relations  to  the  press  of  the 
world  and  there  is  great  gain  thereby.  Debate  and  decide  the 
destinies  of  people  in  secret  and  behind  closed  doors  and.  what- 
ever the  good  decision,  its  effect  is  weakened  by  the  suspicion 
created  by  the  very  secrecy.  The  war  dogs  are  unleashed 
behind  closed  doors,  not  when  men  talk  with  frankness  at  a  con- 
ference table  while  the  world  looks  on. 

Our  meeting  in  this  city  suggests  that  no  longer  are  the  na- 
tions separate.  No  longer  may  they  be  unconcerned,  the  one  with 
the  welfare  of  the  other,  for  all  nations  and  all  peoples  every- 
where are  bound  up  in  the  sure  bundle  of  the  world's  life.  To 
serve  the  life  of  the  world  and  not  to  do  dis-service  to  those 
who  live  next  door  is  the  high  mission  of  the  journalism  of  to- 
day. 

Impossible,  you  say,  the  accomplishment  of  such  a  mission. 
Nay,  nothing  is  impossible  to  those  whose  hearts  are  young,  whose 
faith  is  sure,  and  who  have  ever  before  them  the  splendid  vision 
of  the  profession  of  journalism — journalism,  the  great,  un- 
finished, fascinating,  new  adventure. 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  We  have  a  large  number  of  messages 
from  members  of  organizations,  institutions  and  individual  jour- 
nalists, which  will  be  considered  at  a  later  time  and  referred  to 
committees  as  may  seem  proper,  but  I  crave  your  indulgence  to 
hear  two  of  these  messages  at  the  present  time.  One  is  from  The 
Empire  Press  Union,  of  the  British  Empire,  and  one  from  the 
American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association.  I  will  ask  the 
executive  secretary  of  the  Congress,  Mr,  John  R.  Morris,  to  read 
these. 


78         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 
THE  EXECUTIVE  SECRETARY: 

The  Empire  Press  Union, 
71,  Fleet  Street, 

London,  E.  C, 
5th  August,   1921. 
Dr.  Walter  IViUiams, 

President, 

The  Press  Congress  of  the  World. 
Dear  Mr.  President : 

It  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  send  to  you,  by  the  hand  of  Col.  E.  F. 
Lawson,  who  represents  The  Empire  Press  Union  and  "The  Daily  Tele- 
graph," the  warm  greeting  of  the  members  of  this  organization  to  dele- 
gates to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  assembled  at  Honolulu,  and  to 
convey  the  following  resolution  adopted  unanimously  by  tlie  Council  of 
this  Union : — 

"On  behalf  of  The  Empire  Press  Union  this  Council  beg  to  convey 
through  their  representative  member,  Col.  E.  F.  Lawson,  D.  S.  O., 
M.  C,  hearty  and  fraternal  greetings  to  their  colleagues  in  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World  assembled  in  Conference  at  Honolulu,  and  to  ex- 
press cordial  and  sincere  wishes  for  complete  success  of  this  important 
gathering  of  representatives  of  the  world's  Press,  whose  deliberations 
should  be  attended  by  most  happy  results." 

May  I  ask  that  I  associate  myself  most  heartily  with  this  expression 
of  the  Union's  goodwill  towards  the  important  gatliering  over  which  you 
are  to  preside,  and  join  in  wishing  for  the  Congress  every  success.  I  feel 
that  the  occasion  will  be  one  of  very  great  interest  to  all  concerned  in 
the  Press,  and  that  such  a  mobilization  of  the  world's  newspaper  workers 
should  wield  an  immense  and  fruitful  influence,  not  only  in  the  common 
interests  of  the  newspaper  press,  but  also  in  improving  and  securing  mu- 
tual understanding  and  sympathy. 

I  wish  it  had  been  possible  for  me  to  accept  the  invitation  to  attend 
the  Congress.  For  reasons  already  explained  to  you  I  am  not  able  to  be 
present,  but  I  am  glad  to  take  this  opportunity  of  sending  a  message  of 
fraternal  regard  to  the  delegates  of  the  Congress  from  their  colleagues  in 
the  Empire  Press  Union. 

Yours  very  truly, 

BURNHAM 

President. 

American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association, 
New  York,  U.  S.  A. 

September  37th,  1921. 
Dr.  Walter  Williams, 
President,  Press  Congress  of  the  Worlf^, 
Honolulu,  T.  H. 
My  dear  Dr.  Williams : 

On  behalf  of  the  American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association  permit 
mc  to  extend  heartiest  greetings  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World.     It 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  79 

is  a  gathering  from  which  it  is  impossible  for  anything  but  good  to  come, 
wherein  it  will  be  regarded  in  some  quarters,  perhaps,  as  differing  from 
other  congresses  which  we  all  respect  too  highly  to  mention. 

It  is  really  of  good  omen  to  the  people  of  all  countries  that  there  should 
be  such  an  international  conference  of  their  respective  newspaper  fra- 
ternities as  that  which  you  are  holding. 

The  press  is,  in  every  civilized  land,  the  supreme  vehicle  of  public 
opinion,  and  it  is  public  opinion  which  ultimately  governs.  That  the  press, 
by  which  the  chief  nations  are  interpreted  to  one  another,  should  be  inter- 
nationalized in  the  spirit  of  fraternal  good  will  is  therefore  of  the  highest 
consequence  to  men  everywhere. 

This  friendly  mingling  of  editors  and  publishers  from  widely  separated 
lands  for  the  purpose  of  better  understanding  and  increased  co-operation 
is  the  first  step  toward  the  era  of  worldwide  good  feeling  for  which  all 
mankind  so  deeply  yearns.  The  complete  success  of  your  meeting  is  the 
earnest  wish  of   the  newspapermen  of   America. 

Cordially   yours, 
T.   R.   Williams, 
President,  American  Newspaper 
Publishers  Association. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  chair  recognizes  Mr.  H.  L.  Bridg- 
man. 

MR.  BRIDGMAN  :  Mr.  President,  if  you  will  permit  me  I  will 
offer  a  few  resolutions  relating  to  the  conduct  of  the  business  of 
the  Congress,  and  move  their  adoption.  First,  that  the  President  be 
authorized  to  appoint  all  standing  committees. 

Seconded  and  carried  unanimously. 

Second,  it  is  ordered  that  all  resolutions  except  those  originat- 
ing in  a  committee  shall,  after  having  been  read  to  the  Conven- 
tion for  its  information,  be  referred  to  the  proper  standing  Com- 
mittee of  the  Congress.     I  move  its  adoption. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :     Seconded  and  carried  unanimously. 

The  Chair  will  announce  later  the  committees  of  the  Congress 
covered  by  Mr.  Bridgman's  motion. 

I  now  recognize,  to  present  the  Congress  Agenda,  a  member 
of  the  Executive  Committee,  Dr.  V.  R.  Beteta,  of  Guatemala. 

DR.  BETETA :     I  will  read  the  Congress  Agenda : 

(a)  What  preparation  is  desirable  for  journalism? 

(b)  How  far  is   freedom  of   the  press   necessary  or  desirable   and   how 
may  this   freedom  best  be  attained  and  safeguarded? 

(c)  How    best    may    avenues    for    news    communication    throughout    the 
world  be  established,  maintained,  and  kept  open? 

(d)  What,  if  any,  are  the  obligations  of  journalism  in  reference  to  in- 
ternational relations? 


80        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

(e)     The  question  of  interchange  of  journalists. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  It  is  not  intended  to  limit  discussions  but 
rather  to  encourage  expression  of  your  thought  on  these  topics. 

I  hold  in  my  hand  a  gavel  presented  to  the  President  of  the 
Congress  by  a  crippled  Portuguese  boy  who  is  now  running  an 
elevator  in  the  Governor's  official  home.  His  name  is  Louis 
Madeiras.  He  used  to  sell  newspapers  on  the  street  here,  the 
Star  and  the  Bulletin,  before  they  became  the  Star-Bulletin,  I 
understand,  and  other  papers,  perhaps  the  Advertiser.  Wishing 
to  do  something  for  the  Congress  he  made  out  of  the  island  ma- 
hogany this  gavel  which  bears  upon  it  the  coat  of  arms  of  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii.  In  your  name  and  in  my  own  I  take  this 
public  occasion  of  expressing  your  thanks  and  mine  to  the  crippled 
Portuguese  lad  who  thus  shows  his  interest  in  the  Press  Con- 
gress of  the  World. 

I  recognize  at  this  time  Mr.  Hollington  K.  Tong,  of  Peking, 
China,  who  has  a  pleasant  duty  to  perform  in  a  presentation  to 
the  Congress. 

MR.  TONG:  Mr.  President,  I  have  the  honor  of  presenting  to 
you  as  President  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  two  small 
tokens  which  I  have  brought  oyer  from  China,  in  appreciation  of 
the  great  part  that  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  has  played 
in  international  life.  This  memorial  arch,  engraved  with  the 
words  "World  Opinion"  is  a  tribute  to  the  power  of  the  press 
and  is  sent  by  the  Prime  Minister  of  China  as  an  emblem  of  Peace, 
which  the  Press  does  so  much  to  voice.  It  is  designed  as  an  ex- 
ample of  one  of  the  largest  of  our  national  arches,  and  it  is 
hoped  that  when  your  eyes  rest  upon  this  memorial  arch  you  will 
be  reminded  of  the  Chinese  Republic. 

This  cup,  also  designed  with  characteristic  Chinese  art,  bears 
the  words,  "The  Universal  Voice,"  and  like  its  companion  is  pre- 
sented to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  for  the  use  and 
possession  of  its  officers.  It  is  sent  by  the  Minister  of  Finance 
of  the  Republic  of  China,  in  token  of  his  deep  appreciation  and 
with  the  hope  that  the  World  Press  will  help  to  smooth  out  our 
difficulties.  I  hand  these  small  tokens  to  you,  Mr.  President, 
with  the  heartiest  wishes  for  your  continued  good  health  and  for 
the  prosperity  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  which  you 
have  done  so  much  to  bring  to  its  present  standing. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  81 

THE  CHAIJRMAN  :  These  beautiful  tokens  of  appreciation 
and  good  will  from  the  Republic  of  China,  I  am  confident,  will 
be  highly  valued  by  this  and  future  Press  Congresses,  as  mani- 
festing the  interest  of  the  Prime  Minister  and  people  of  that 
country,  in  which  the  art  of  printing,  the  medium  of  expression 
for  journalism,  had  its  origin  generations  ago.  The  mother  of 
printing  thus  greets  the  daughter  of  printing  here  between  the 
East  and  the  West.  And  what  Mr.  Tong  has  so  felicitously  ex- 
pressed in  his  presentation  I  am  sure  will  be  recalled  by  all  of 
us  as  another  evidence  in  the  nature  of  the  erection  of  spiritual 
temples,  in  which  we,  as  the  High  Priests  of  journalism  enter 
day  by  day,  seeking  to  do  service  there  unto  all  mankind.  In 
your  name  and  for  you  I  accept  these  tokens  of  friendship  and 
goodwill  from  the  distinguished  Ministers  of  China,  and  will 
place  them  in  possession  of  the  Congress  as  perpetual  reminder 
if  reminder  be  needed,  of  the  goodwill  that  should  exist  between 
journalists  and  peoples  everywhere. 

I  again  recognize  Dr.  Beteta,  who  will  read  a  cablegram  from 
the  Mayor  of  the  City  of  Seville,  Spain. 

DR.   BETETA :   Translation  of   a   cablegram   received   from 
The  Count  of  Urbina,  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Seville,  Spain,  Rep- 
resentative there  of  the  King  of  Spain  and  President  of  the  Ex- 
position to  be  held  in  1923-24: 
Seville,  October  10,  1921. 

To  President,  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  Honolulu. 
Confirming  invitation  sent  by  means  of  your  Delegate  to  Spain  and 
Latin  America,  Dr.  Virgilio  Rodriguez  Beteta,  the  City  Council  of  Seville 
feels  honored  to  invite  the  members  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World, 
sitting  at  Honolulu  to  name  Seville  as  the  site  of  the  next  meeting  of  tlie 
Congress.  I  beg  this  request  to  be  passed  to  the  assemblage  in  the  name 
of  the  Council  of  Seville,  so  tliat  our  invitation  may  be  official  in  its 
character. 

Mayor,  Count  of   Urbina. 
THE  CHAIRMAN:  It  will  be  referred  to  the  proper  com- 
mittee. 

We  will  have  announcements  only  at  certain  times  except  as 
the  Chairman  makes  announcements  and  I  will  make  this  an- 
nouncement at  the  present  time :  First,  there  will  be  no  after- 
noon session  of  the  Congress  today.  A  little  later  in  the  morning 
we  will  have  a  ten  minute  recess  before  we  finally  adjourn  and 


82         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Mr.  Aldrich,  the  photographer,  will  take  motion  pictures  of  this 
room  and  the  people  in  it,  the  fihns  to  be  for  pubhcity  use. 

Acting  in  accordance  with  the  resolution  adopted  by  the 
Congress  a  moment  ago,  I  wish  to  announce  that  the  commit- 
tees are  only  partly  organized  as  to  membership  and  will  be 
added  to  from  time  to  time.  I  will  read  them  as  far  as  they  have 
been  organized.  The  first  named  on  each  committee  will  be  the 
chairman,  and  the  second  the  vice  chairman. 

Committee  on   Resolutions. 
Col.  E.  F.  Lawson,  England,  Chairman. 
F.  P.  Glass,  United  States,  Vice-chairman. 
Thales  Coutoupis,  Greece. 
K.  P.  Wang,  China. 
H.  L.  Bridgman,  United  States. 
Oswald  Mayrand,  Canada. 
M.  Zumoto,  Japan. 
Gregoria  Nieva,  Philippine  Islands. 
Mrs.  Mabel  S.  Shaw,  United  States. 
Agustin  Laze,   Cuba. 
Henry  Chung,  Korea. 
W.  Easton,  New  Zealand. 
Guy  Innes,  Australia. 

Committee  on   Constitution. 
K.  Sugimura,  Japan,  Chairman. 
F.  P.  Hall,  United  States,  Vice-chairman. 
Jabin  Hsu,  China. 
H.  A.  Davies,  Australia. 
R.  W.  Kettle,  New  Zealand. 
Agustin  Laze,  Cuba. 
H.  U.  Bailey,  United  States. 
C.  H.  Fogg,  United  States. 
V.  S.  McCIatchy,  United  States. 

Committee  on  Nominations. 
Mark  Cohen,  New  Zealand,   Chairman. 
James    Wright    Brown,    United    States,    Vice-chairman. 
\    Hollington  K.  Tong,  China. 
K.  Sugimura,  Japan. 
Guy  Innes,  Australia. 
Col.  E.  F.  Lawson,  England. 
V.  R.  Beteta,  Guatemala. 
J.  P.  Herrick,  United  States. 
IvUdvig  Saxe,  Norway. 
Thales  Coutoupis,  Greece. 
W.  R.  Farrington,  United  States. 
Mrs.  H.  J.  Allen,  United  States. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  83 

Oswald  Mayrand,  Canada. 
Gregorio  Nieva,  Philippine  Islands. 
Agustin  Lazo,  Cuba. 

Committee  on    Credentials. 
W.  D.  Hornaday,  United  States,  Chairman. 
Riley  H.  Allen,  United  States,  Vice-chairman. 
C.  S.  Smith,  New  Zealand. 
Hollington  K.  Tong,  China. 
John  R.  Morris,  United  States. 

Committee  on  Rules  and  Order  of  Business. 
L.  A.  Thurston,  United  States,  Cliairman. 
V.  R.  Beteta,  Guatemala,  Vice-chairman. 
S.  E.  DeRackin,  United  States. 

Mr.  DeRackin  is  the  only  member  of  this  Press  Congress, 
so  far  as  my  memory  serves  me,  who  was  present  at  the  initial 
meeting  held  some  dozen  years  or  more  ago  when  it  was  suggested 
that  this  present  convention  be  held. 

(After  Ten  Minutes  Recess) 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  session  will  reconvene.  I  will  have 
the  Executive  Secretary  of  the  Congress  read  a  letter  from  the 
Director  of  the  Shun  Pao,  of  Shanghai,  China,  regarding  the  next 
meeting  of  the  Congress. 

THE  EXECUTIVE  SECRETARY: 

Shanghai,  September  21,  1921. 
My  dear  Dr.  Williams: 

We  understand  that  the  Third  Press  Congress  of  the  World  will  be 
held  not  very  long  from  now,  and  we  therefore  wish  to  extend  an  invita- 
tion to  the  members  of  the  Congress  to  hold  their  next  Congress  in  China. 
Judging  from  the  trend  of  world  progress  and  from  the  position  of  im- 
portance in  the  family  of  nations  within  the  next  few  decades,  there  will 
be  no  other  country  as  fit  as  China  will  be,  to  be  tlie  meeting  place  of  the 
next  Press  Congress.  Moreover  China  is  an  old  nation,  and  she  has 
many  notable  characteristics  and  original  traditions  that  will  be  worth- 
while for  the  newspapermen  of  the  world  to  observe  and  study.  No  other 
country  could  offer  a  better  and  richer  field  of  interest  for  the  members 
of  the  Press  Congress  to  digest.  We,  therefore,  sincerely  request  you  to 
extend  an  invitation  on  behalf  of  the  Chinese  people  to  the  Congress  to 
hold   its  next  Congress   in   China. 

We  further  learn  that  a  party  of  journalists  will  visit  China  soon  after 
the  close  of  the  Second  Congress.  Shanghai  is  the  biggest  port  in  the 
Orient  and  the  "Shun  Pao"  is  the  leading  newspaper  in  China,  the  visiting 
journalists  surely  can  not  afford  to  miss  calling  on  us.  Pleasure  will  be 
ours  to  be  at  their  service  whenever  they  come.  Please  convey  our  senti- 
ment of  welcome  to  those  who  are  coming  here  soon  or  some  time  in  the 
future. 


84        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

With  best  wishes  for  the  greatest  success  of  the  Second  Congress. 

I  am, 
Yours  very  sincerely, 

SzE  Liang  Zay 
Director. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  This  letter  and  the  invitation  will  be  re- 
ferred as  the  others  have  been  to  the  proper  standing  committee. 

I  recognize  Mr.  Nieva,  of  the  Philippine  Islands,  who  will 
make  a  brief  statement. 

MR.  NIEVA:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  As  I 
mentioned  last  night.  Governor  General  Yeater,  on  behalf  of  the 
Government  of  my  country  and  the  Press  of  the  Philippines,  has 
given  me  instructions  to  invite  you  to  meet  in  Manila  on  the  oc- 
casion of  the  next  Press  Congress.  Manila  is  now  closer  to 
Honolulu  and  to  the  United  States,  with  the  establishment  of  the 
direct  route,  on  which  pleasure  boats  are  running  and  at  the  same 
time  is  as  close  to  both  Americas  as  it  is  to  Europe.  With  the 
appointment  of  Major  General  Wood  as  our  next  Governor  Gen- 
eral, the  Philippines  is  coming  to  the  front,  for  Governor  General 
Wood  will  be  a  towering  figure  not  only  for  the  Philippines  but 
for  the  welfare,  progress  and  peace  of  the  whole  Far  East.  We, 
as  well  as  you,  should  watch  the  progress  of  which  he  will  be 
the  instrument  in  the  Orient.  If  but  for  this  reason  alone,  it 
should  be  worth  while  for  you  to  note  what  is  being  done  in  the 
Philippines  in  the  interest  of  humanity,  that  the  Far  East  may 
assume  her  proper  place  on  the  earth.  Allow  me  therefore  to  ex- 
tend to  you  once  more  a  cordial  invitation  from  the  Governor 
and  the  Press  of  my  country. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  invitation  presented  by  Mr.  Nieva 
will  be  referred  to  the  proper  committee. 

Mr.  Bridgman  has  an  announcement  to  make. 

MR.  BRIDGMAN:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I 
assume  entire  personal  responsibility  for  the  statement  which  I 
am  about  to  make,  believing  that  a  frank  explanation  is  due.  Re- 
cently, as  you  are  all  aware,  that  great  newspaper  The  New  York 
Times,  celebrated  its  seventieth  birthday  and  the  twenty-fifth  an- 
niversary of  the  management  of  Mr.  Adolph  S.  Ochs,  and  in 
connection  with  that  interesting  event  published  a  complete  his- 
tory of  the  rise,  development  and  progress  of  that  great  news- 
paper.    Meeting  Mr.  Ochs  the  other  day,   I  suggested  to  him 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  85 

that  an  inscribed  copy  of  this  excellent  work  be  presented  to  the 
Congress,  offering  my  service  as  messenger,  but  Mr.  Ochs,  with 
characteristic  modesty  in  which  he  resembled  other  great  men, 
appreciating  the  compliment,  declined  graciously  to  accept  my 
offer.  Subsequently,  however,  he  placed  in  my  possession  three 
copies  of  the  history,  with  the  request  that  I  place  them  at  the 
disposal  of  this  Congress,  and  it  gives  me  much  pleasure  to  per- 
form this  honorable  commission.  I  ask  you,  Mr.  President,  to  ac- 
cept these  books. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Chair,  for  the  Congress,  has  pleas- 
ure in  accepting  the  gifts  through  Mr.  Bridgman  of  the  three 
copies  of  the  history  of  one  of  the  world's  greatest  newspapers, 
the  New  York  Times.  Acceptance  and  thanks  in  due  course  of 
time  will  be  forwarded  to  Mr.  Ochs. 

Mr.  Bridgman  has  kindly  offered  to  place  on  exhibition  for  a 
time  at  Tiffany's,  in  New  York,  and  later  to  place  in  the  safe- 
keeping of  a  safe  deposit  company  of  which  he  is  vice-president 
these  beautiful  tokens  of  China's  good  will  and  friendship,  and 
make  them  available  to  the  public  at  such  times  as  the  Congress 
may  determine,  and  in  such  ways  as  it  sees  fit.  The  suggestion 
is  gratefully  received  and  will  be  considered  by  the  proper  com- 
mittee, to  which  it  is  hereby  referred. 

MR.  JAMES  WRIGHT  BROWN :  I  should  like  to  move,  Mr. 
President,  that  this  Congress  rise  and  extend  its  thanks  and  ap- 
preciation to  its  Honorary  President,  President  Harding,  and  to 
Governor  Farrington,  for  their  most  welcome  and  appreciative 
messages. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  You  have  heard  the  motion  of  Mr. 
Brown,  what  is  your  pleasure? 

MR.  HERRICK,  New  York :  I  second  the  motion. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  All  in  favor  will  make  it  known  by  ris- 
ing. 

The  motion  is  carried  unanimously. 

You  will  recall  that  the  committees  that  have  been  named 
will  meet  at  the  call  of  the  Chairman  wherever  he  wishes  and 
whenever  he  wishes  and  take  up  such  matters  as  may  be  referred 
to  them,  or  as  they  may  initiate  for  themselves.  Additions  will 
be  made  to  these  committees  and  the  Chairman  of  the  committee 
will  be  notified  thereof.  The  list  of  the  committees  can  be  ob- 
tained  from  the  secretary  of  the  Congress.     There  will  be  no 


86        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

more  formal  meetings  of  the  Congress  until  Monday,  October 
17,  but  during  the  five  days  of  that  week  we  hope  to  have  par- 
ticularly profitable  and  effective  sessions  and  we  urge  you  this 
far  in  advance  to  let  none  of  the  attractions  of  Honolulu  keep  you 
away  from  attendance  upon  these  Congress  sessions  at  that  time. 
It  may  have  escaped  the  attention  of  some  of  you  that  tonight  is 
the  four  hundred  and  twenty-ninth  anniversary  of  the  discovery 
of  America  by  the  great  Genoese  navigator,  who  was  financed  by 
Spain,  and  that  those  of  you  who  wish  to  do  so  and  have  not  al- 
ready done  so  may  properly  commemorate  that  event  by  helping 
others  to  discover,  as  Balboa  did  the  Pacific  Ocean  later,  some 
of  the  wonders  of  this  part  of  the  world.  It  is  particularly  appro- 
priate it  seems  to  me  that  this  first  meeting,  which  is  just  a  hint 
of  what  we  hope  to  accomplish,  comes  on  the  anniversary  of  the 
day  when  Christopher  Columbus  was  looking  out  over  the  At- 
lantic, seeking  to  find  a  new  world.  May  we  today  be  looking  out 
to  see  a  new  world  in  a  higher,  better  and  truer  sense  than  even 
the  great  Genoese  when  America  was  added  to  the  then  known 
world. 

The  Congress  will  stand  adjourned  until  ten  o'clock  Monday 
morning,  October  17. 


SECOND  SESSION. 

MONDAY  MORNING,  OCTOBER  17,  1921. 

The  session  was  called  to  order  at  ten  o'clock  a.  m..  President 
Williams  occupying  the  chair. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  I  have  appointed  Mr.  H.  B.  Hale  as  ser- 
geant-at-arms.     He  possesses  both  strength  and  diplomacy. 

The  Congress  sessions  will  begin  each  morning  hereafter  at 
ten  o'clock  in  this  room  and  each  afternoon  at  two  o'clock  in  this 
room,  today,  Tuesday,  Wednesday  and  Thursday.  The  sessions 
on  Friday  will  be  held  elsewhere  and  due  announcement  made 
thereof.  The  sessions  must  begin  promptly  on  time  in  order 
that  we  may  transact  the  business  for  which  we  are  in  Honolulu. 

The  program  as  heretofore  printed  and  appearing  from  day 
to  day  in  the  newspapers  will  be  followed,  except  that  the  Chair- 
man reserves  the  right  to  change  the  make-up  if  necessary  just 
before  the  paper  goes  to  press.  The  meetings  of  the  Congress 
are  open  to  the  public  and  a  cordial  invitation  is  extended  to  all 
who  wish  to  attend  at  any  time. 


i 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  87 

Before  any  discussion  of  any  paper  is  taken  up,  I  beg  to  call 
to  your  attention  the  provision  of  the  Constitution,  stating  that 
'"Sessions  of  the  Congress  are  to  be  open  to  the  consideration  of 
all  questions  directly  affecting  the  press,  but  discussions  of 
religion,  politics  and  governmental  policies  will  not  be  permitted," 
and  the  Chair  will  feel  it  his  duty  to  hold  strictly  to  the  pro- 
vision of  the  Constitution,  for  we  are  here  to  consider  journalism 
and  not  some  other  questions  that  may  be  interesting  but  are 
not  within  the  line  of  our  work. 

Under  instructions  of  the  Executive  Committee  there  has  been 
named  a  committee  on  the  organization  of  a  Pan-Pacific  Press 
Conference.  I  will  ask  the  secretary  to  read  the  names  of  this 
committee. 

THE  SECRETARY :  As  authorized  by  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, the  following  committee  on  the  organization  of  a  Pan- 
Pacific  Press  Conference  is  announced : 
Alexander  Hume   Ford,   Chairman. 
Guy   Innes,    Australia,   Vice-chairman. 

F.  F.  Bunker,  United  States,  Secretary. 
V.  S.  McCIatchy,  United  States. 

K.  Sugimura,  Japan. 

Jabin  Hsu,  China. 

Mark  Cohen,  New  Zealand. 

V.  R.  Beteta,  Latin  America. 

Oswald  Mayrand,  Canada. 

Hin  Wong,  China. 

Riley  H.  Allen,  United  States. 

G.  Nieva,  Philippine  Islands. 
H.  H.  Cynn,  Korea. 

S.  E.  DeRackin,   United   States. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  This  committee  will  have  charge  of  the 
program  planned  for  Friday  of  this  week. 

The  Congress  has  received  a  number  of  messages  from  distant 
parts  of  the  earth  which  the  secretary  will  now  read. 

THE  SECRETARY :  These,  gentlemen,  are  mostly  messages 
of  congratulation  and  good  wishes. 

The  first  is  a  cablegram  from  Fred  Johnston  of  the  Falkirk  Herald, 
Scotland:     "Heartiest  greetings   sincerest  absence  apology." 

The  second  is  from  W.  T.  Brewster,  Irish  Independent,  Dublin :  "Greet- 
ings from  press  of  Ireland  and  heartiest  wishes  for  success." 

From  B.  M.  Harvard,  "Cordial  greetings." 

From  Kaibyuk  Magazine,  Korea :  "Greetings." 

From  Toundokyo  Magazine,  Korea :     ''Greetings." 


88        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

From  the  editor  El  Mundo,  Azucarero,  New  Orleans :  "The  Louisiana 
Press  Association  in  annual  session  authorized  me  to  convey  to  you  the 
good  wishes  of  all  the  editors  of  Louisiana  with  the  hope  that  your 
session  will  be  full  of  intellectual  enjoyment  and  mark  an  advance  in 
the  newspaper  status  of  the  whole  world." 

From  A.  A.  Humme,  President  of  the  Dutch  Association  of  Journalists. 
The  Hague :  "To  the  Congress  all  liail  for  international  brotherhood's  sake." 

From  the  Dutch  Association:     "Best  wishes." 

From  B.  W.  Fleisher,  Japan  Advertiser :  "Please  convey  deep  regret 
inability  avail  myself  great  privilege  to  have  actively  taken  part  this  Con- 
gress for  such  constructive  work  international  journalism  more  important 
now  than  ever  and  in  no  sphere  more  important  than  in  Pacific.  Trust  I 
may  be  of  service  in  any  permanent  Pan-Pacific  organization  formed." 

From  Charles  Igglesden,  Kentish  Express,  Ashf  ord,  Kent,  England : 
"Hearty  good  wishes   from  reluctantly  absent  member." 

From  the  editor  of  the  Fourth  Estate,  Ernest  F.  Birmingham :  "Much 
regret  my  inability  to  be  with  you.  Please  convey  to  Governor  Farrington 
and  members  of  Congress  the  Fourth  Estate's  congratulations  and  our  be- 
lief that  your  meeting  will  prove  historic  in  strengthening  the  relations  be- 
tween the  press  of  all  nations  which  although  always  cordial  are  not  suffi- 
ciently coordinated  to  demonstrate  its  full  power  and  influence  on  the 
world's  progress.  I  am  certain  that  the  interchange  of  thought  on  the 
practical  problems  of  newspaper  publishing  will  broaden  editorial  vision 
and  help  materially  in  framing  policies  dealing  with  the  momentous  ques- 
tions now  before  the  world's  leaders,  outstanding  among  whom  is  our  own 
President  Harding,  himself  a  man  of  lifelong  training  in  the  profession 
of  journalism." 

From  the  Korean  Independence  News :  "Hearty  congratulations,  best 
wishes." 

From  John  Clyde  Oswald,  editor  American  Printer ;  one  of  the  Vice- 
Presidents  of  the  Congress :  "Fraternal  greetings.  May  your  sessions 
prove  interesting  and  profitable.    Deeply  regret  enforced  absence." 

From  Salvado  Canals,  Madrid :  "Best  wishes  for  the  success  of  your 
Congress." 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  There  are  two  or  three  invitations  rel- 
ative to  the  next  meeting  of  the  Congress,  that  will  be  presented 
and  read  at  this  time. 

THE  SECRETARY:  I  have  here  the  translation  of  a  mes- 
sage from  Sig.  Urbina,  King's  representative,  Seville,  Spain: 

The  Hispanio-American  Exposition  Committee  requests  that  Congress  be 
held,  according  the  proposition  presented  by  our  official  representative, 
Rodriguez  Bcteta,  here  in  192,3.     We  hope  a   favorable  resolution. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  This  invitation,  together  with  others  pre- 
sented, will  be  referred  under  the  Constitution  to  the  Executive 
Committee  for  consideration  and  determination.  I  now  recognize 
Mr.  William  Southern,  Jr. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  89 

MR.  SOUTHERN :  Mr.  President,  brother  delegates,  I  bring 
you  greeting  from  the  Missouri  Press  Association  which,  at  a 
meeting  held  in  September,  extended  a  very  cordial  invitation  to 
this  Press  Congress  to  hold  its  next  conference  in  Missouri,  in 
either  of  our  large  cities  or  at  Columbia,  Missouri,  the  seat  of 
our  university  and  the  home  of  our  president,  Dean  Williams, 
who  presides  there  over  the  Missouri  Univetrsity  School  of 
Journalism. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  This  invitation  will  be  referred  to  the 
Executive  Committee.  I  will  ask  the  secretary  now  to  read  a 
request  from  the  Naval  Communication  Service. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

The  telegraph  companies  of  the  United  States  to  whom  we  forward 
press  dispatches  for  further  transmission  to  their  destination  require  that 
press  dispatches  in  order  to  enjoy  press  rates  over  their  lines  must  con- 
tain only  items  of  news  and  inquiries  concerning  news.  For  this  reason 
delegates  are  requested  not  to  place  items  of  a  personal  nature  in  their 
dispatches.  A  low  price  night  letter  rate  is  offered  by  the  Radio  Corpora- 
tion of  America.  The  Naval  Radio  operator  on  duty  will  furnish  any  in- 
formation regarding  this  class  of  message  and  will  accept  them  for  trans- 
mission after  they  have  been  oked  by  the  hotel  clerk : 

Naval  Communication  Service  Moana  Hotel. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Chair  again  states  what  is  doubtless 
familiar  to  you  all,  that  discussion  is  permitted  at  any  time  and 
on  any  subject  raised  by  the  papers  presented  or  subjects  that 
may  be  created,  with  the  limitations  already  referred  to.  This 
afternoon  the  general  subject  for  discussion  will  be  Journalistic 
Education. 

This  morning  we  begin  our  program  with  an  address  on  the 
"Freedom  of  the  Press."  It  comes  with  appropriateness  from  a 
delegate  from  a  land  which  we  have  associated  in  all  centuries, 
even  under  difficult  conditions,  with  freedom.  I  have  the  honor 
of  presenting  to  you  a  distinguished  journalist  of  Athens,  Greece, 
a  former  member  of  the  cabinet  of  Venizelos,  eminent  in  state- 
craft as  in  journalism,  Mr.  Thales  Coutoupis. 

MR.  THALES  COUTOUPIS:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen:  Before  I  enter  into  my  subject,  allow  me  to  tell  you 
something  as  a  prologue  to  my  address. 

I  come  from  a  country  which  is  far  away  from  here,  a 
country  which  has  been  the  cradle  of  freedom  of  opinion  and 
public  expression  of  thought.     Who  wotild  have  believed  in  the 


90         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

ancient  times  that  a  day  would  come  when  we  would  be  discussing 
in  a  new  Athenian  AW  PA  political  and  social  matters  to  pro- 
mote general  ideas  for  the  development  of  mankind?  Even  in 
modern  times  one  would  scarcely  believe  that  a  gathering  of  such 
importance  could  bring  men  of  letters  from  both  hemispheres  as 
it  happens  now. 

I  may  say  that  in  the  expression  of  opinion  for  the  develop- 
ment of  mankind,  no  other  factor  can  more  than  the  press  draw 
the  attention  of  the  people  and  make  universal  the  matters  which 
are  local  for  many  men  of  religion,  statesmen,  military  men,  men 
of  business  and  also  men  of  letters,  by  pretending  to  enlighten  by 
their  teaching  the  whole  of  mankind. 

The  press,  through  its  influence  and  its  generality  of  opinions 
will  succeed  more  than  all  universities,  parliaments,  conferences, 
books,  etc.,  to  bring  peoples  together  and  to  persuade  them  that 
they  will  be  happier  if  they  look  at  all  the  different  matters  from 
an  international  rather  than  from  a  national  point  of  view.  No 
man  can  be  so  active  as  a  newspaper  man ;  no  profession  makes 
the  mind  so  acute  to  catch  on  to  international  affairs  and  take  an 
interest  in  them.  The  press  is  the  guide  of  public  opinion  not 
only  of  one  people  but  of  all  the  peoples  of  the  world. 

Of  course,  the  principal  aim  of  this  congress  is  to  promote 
peace.  I  ought  perhaps  to  touch  in  my  speech  upon  this  subject. 
It  was  in  my  country  that  first  the  general  idea  of  an  understand- 
ing between  enemies  was  discussed  in  congress.  I  refer  you  back 
to  the  congress  in  Delphi,  the  so-called  AM<PIKTWNIKA  lYNd- 
AEPIAm  which  affairs  of  peace  were  discussed  and  during 
which  any  war  enterprise  was    suspended. 

Coming  from  Greece,  a  country  which  is  unfortunately  still 
at  war,  I  ought  to  speak  for  peace.  Every  Greek  is  for  peace. 
If  there  is  now  war  in  Asia  Minor,  this  is  a  war  for  freedom, 
for  deliverance  of  a  large  population  in  slavery  till  the  occupa- 
tion of  West  Asia  Minor  by  the  Greek  army.  I  want  peace  as 
much  as  any  of  you.  I  expect  from  the  press  and  from  this 
congress  a  promotion  of  the  idea  of  general  peace.  But  in  my 
speech  of  today  I  wish  to  draw  your  attention  to  what  is  wrong 
in  the  press ;  to  what  is  the  heel  of  Achilles,  and  that  is  the  abuse 
of  the  press. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  91 

When  I  decided  to  come  before  you,  I  at  first  thought  of 
telHng  you  something  about  the  press  of  Greece,  but  it  occurred  to 
me  that  it  would  not  be  right  for  me  to  occupy  your  time  with 
a  subject  having  perhaps  Httle  more  than  local  interest,  so  I 
turned  to  another  subject  which  I  have  entitled :  "The  influence 
of  the  press  upon  public  opinion  and  its  abuses." 

Of  course  this  subject  is  very  comprehensive  in  scope,  really 
covering  a  great  part  of  the  business  of  this  Congress,  neverthe- 
less it  seemed  to  me  fitting  for  me  to  discuss  this  theme  from  my 
own  point  of  view  and  that  the  conclusions,  which  I  might  reach, 
might  perhaps  constitute  a  small  contribution  to  the  general  aims 
of  this  meeting. 

While  I  do  not  intend  to  trouble  you  with  many  facts  about 
the  origin  of  the  press  which  might  interest  the  historian  but  not 
this  Congress,  called  as  it  is  to  discuss  matters  of  today  and  to- 
morrow but  not  of  the  distant  past,  nevertheless,  I  should  like 
to  take  this  opportunity  to  say  a  word  about  the  beginning  of 
journalism,  for,  as  far  as  I  know,  nothing  has  been  published 
about  the  press  of  Ancient  Greece. 

The  best  authors  of  works  on  journalism  find  the  beginning  of 
it,  apart  from  its  development  in  old  China,  in  the  Roman  Acta 
Diurna,  but  thinking  that  even  in  this  branch  of  human  progress 
the  Greeks  could  not  have  lagged  behind,  I  succeeded  in  finding 
a  kind  of  journalism  among  the  Ancient  Greeks.  I  will  give 
some  details  in  a  few  lines. 

Diuros,  the  Cretan,  the  first  journalist,  published  daily  news 
of  the  progress  of  the  Trojan  War.  The  Ancient  Greeks  had  the 
AEYKQMATA^  the  white  colored  planks  on  which  thev  used 
to  publish  the  news  of  the  day,  public  acts,  laws,  accusations,  de- 
cision of  tribunals,  conventions,  sales  of  slaves,  or  property 
(Suidas  AETKQMA  Plato  Laws  VI,  23.  Hesychius 
AETKPJIATA,  Dion  Cassius  Fg.lO.  Diogenes  Laertius  VI, 
8.)  Besides  these  there  were  in  use  by  the  Ancient  Greeks  the 
E0HMEPIAEI^  the  royal  newspapers  of  Alexander  the  Great 
which  are  mentioned  by  Arrianus.  These  newspapers  are  called 
by  the  German,  Wilken,  in  his"  Philologus,"  Alexander's  Hof~ 
and  Feld  Journale.  The  Byzantians  had  also  a  kind  of  news- 
paper, the  AFFAFIOI^  to  communicate  news  and  messages  to 
the  people. 


92         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Coming  now  to  the  modern  Greeks,  1  must  note  that  many 
years  before  Greece  was  freed  from  Turkish  yoke,  two  news- 
papers printed  in  Greek  appeared  in  Vienna,  as  far  back  as  1791. 
Other  Greek  newspapers  have  been  published  in  different  cities, 
viz. ,  at  Vienna,  Corfu,  Paris,  London,  etc.  But  the  remarkable 
thing  is  just  at  the  time  of  the  declaration  of  independence 
(Greece),  a  Greek  newspaper  under  the  name  Trumpet  was  pub- 
lished. Since  the  independence  of  Greece  many  dailies  and 
weeklies  have  sprung  up  only  to  cease  publication  after  a  few 
years.  There  is  today  no  daily  in  Greece  that  is  fifty  years  old. 
The  number  of  dailies  in  Athens,  in  comparison  with  the  popula- 
tion of  the  capital  and  of  the  whole  country,  is  rather  large. 
Most  of  the  dailies,  having  but  a  few  thousand  circulation,  scarce- 
ly meet  expenses.  There  are,  however,  five  or  six  dailies  which 
have  a  net  annual  profit  of  one  hundred  thousand  (100,- 
000)  to  five  hundred  thousand  (500,000)  drachmas,  i.  e.  twenty 
to  one  hundred  thousand  dollars.  There  are  also  many  weekly 
papers  but  these  are  for  the  most  part  of  a  literary  character. 

The  influence  of  the  Greek  press  upon  the  people  is  enormous. 
Although  people  speak  of  it  with  much  contempt,  even  holding 
the  best  papers  in  apparent  disesteem,  still  they  are  influenced 
by  the  most  insignificant  of  them.  Greek  people  enjoy  the  dis- 
cussion of  politics.  Many  papers,  abusing  the  influence  which 
they  exert  upon  the  people,  appeal  to  low  feelings.  This  fact 
gives  me  the  opportunity  to  call  the  attention  of  this  convention 
to  a  most  interesting  influence  of  the  press,  i.  e.,  the  evil  which  is 
done  by  a  number  of  papers,  which  in  order  to  secure  circulation 
sufficient  to  keep  them  alive  or  to  secure  a  dishonorable  profit, 
greatly  diminish  their  usefulness.  There  is  perhaps  no  certain 
method  of  checking  and  controlling  this  vicious  influence  through 
legislative  or  administrative  measures.  The  press  must  be  kept 
entirely  free  from  interference  by  parliaments  and  governments. 
It  is  the  press's  duty  to  criticise  the  parliament  and  the  govern- 
ment. In  my  view  of  the  matter  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  our  only  hope  of  diminishing  the  evil  influence,  which  the 
press  may  and  often  does  exert,  can  come  from  the  press  itself. 

A  most  important  and  valuable  discussion  of  the  evils  of  the 
low-minded  press  grew  out  of  an  inquiry  made  a  score  of  years 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  93 

ago  by  the  French  Revue  Bleue.  The  most  eminent  of  the 
French  politicians  and  publishers,  as  well  as  men  of  letters,  took 
part  in  the  discussion,  among  others  Poincare,  Clemenceau, 
Jaures,  Zola,  Drumont,  Barres,  Claretie,  etc.  Most  of  these 
learned  men,  known  in  all  the  world,  asserted  that  the  press 
should  promulgate  ideas  instead  of  trying  to  relate  crimes,  scan- 
dals, facts  of  private  life,  and  making  appeal  to  the  passions.  Ac- 
cording to  these  men,  the  press,  in  adopting  methods  which  are 
detrimental  to  the  people,  abuse  the  freedom  which  the  law  gives 
to  it  in  all  free  countries.  I  am  sure  that  this  is  true  to  a  certain 
degree  in  many  countries,  but  the  question  is  how  to  remedy  the 
mischief.  That  the  public  must  condemn  this  kind  of  press  and 
pay  no  attention  to  the  scandals  it  portrays  is  a  fine  idea  but  it 
is  inadequate  entirely  to  rectify  the  evil.  Public  condemnation  is 
not  to  be  expected  and  consequently  reliance  upon  it  is  not  suffi- 
cient. Besides,  there  are  men,  who  despise  any  danger  to  their 
lives,  but  who  tremble  before  any  article  in  a  newspaper. 

In  my  opinion  the  remedy  must  come  from  three  sources ; 
first,  from  individual  leaders,  second,  from  society  at  large, 
and,  third,  from  the  state. 

The  indifference  of  individuals  and  the  silent  contempt  of 
society,  however,  do  not  necessarily  affect  circulation.  On  the 
other  hand,  a  fine  by  the  court  is  a  positive  check.  But  all  these 
factors  become  operative  when  one  or  more  individuals  are  at- 
tacked by  newspapers.  The  law,  with  rapid  decision  of  the 
court,  and  a  communique  in  support  of  the  insulted  persons 
from  societies  are  sufficient  to  reestablish  their  standing.  But 
the  question  is,  how  to  correct  the  immoral  press  when  society 
as  a  whole  rather  than  the  individuals  as  such,  is  harmed,  by 
the  publication  of  articles,  news  and  chronicles  of  a  nature  such 
that  the  paper  cannot  be  brought  before  a  court  on  a  charge  of 
libel  by  due  process  of  law. 

In  the  matters  of  the  issuance  of  a  newspaper  this  Congress 
ought  perhaps  to  discuss  the  question  of  requiring  certain  stand- 
ards of  both  the  editor  and  the  persons  who  supply  the  financial 
backing,  regarding  guarantee  for  the  integrity,  the  capacity  and 
the  learning  of  these  men.  But  who  should  be  the  judge?  A 
court?  I  should  say  that  a  Council  of  the  Press  would  be  more 
suitable  for  this  task,  which  ought  to  be  one  of  the  most  impor- 


94         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

tant  duties  of  all  press  associations.  Its  decisions  would  be  the 
best  guide  to  governmental  authorities  called  on  to  permit  the 
organization  and  issuance  of  a  paper. 

The  press  associations  ought,  of  course,  to  have  regulations 
governing  the  creation  of  new  newspapers  and  of  determining 
their  responsibility.  It  is  stupid  not  to  hold  some  one  responsible 
for  articles  appearing  in  a  paper,  when  it  is  realized  that  these 
articles,  often  attacking  respectable  persons,  can  be  written  by 
criminals  or  by  mere  private  clerks  who  expect  to  benefit  by  sub- 
jecting persons  of  prominence  to  attack.  The  responsibility  for 
everything  appearing  in  a  newspaper  to  the  detriment  of  in- 
dividuals or  of  society  at  large,  must  remain  fixed  on  the  editor 
and  the  real  proprietor,  which  also  the  person  writing  anonymous 
mischievous  articles  of  news  must  share.  It  is  proper  that  press 
associations  should  propose  stopping  a  paper,  which  is  exercising 
a  perverted  influence.  These  associations  under  such  circum- 
stances cannot  be  accused  of  exerting  their  right  to  control  the 
press,  for  what  a  person  as  an  individual  cannot  or  will  not  do 
in  respect  to  such  newspapers  the  associations  can  accomplish 
without  fear. 

The  question,  then,  is  how  to  organize  the  associations  in 
order  that  they  may  undertake  the  task  of  controlling  the  so- 
called  "yellow  press."  I  will  not  enter  into  details  in  discussing 
this  matter,  for  it  doubtless  will  be  taken  up  later  by  this  Con- 
gress. But  I  would  like  to  add  that  the  principle  of  the  absolute 
liberty  of  the  expression  of  all  opinions  would,  of  course,  re- 
main. If  this  right  be  respected  as  it  should  be,  the  other  right, 
i.  e.,  that  society  must  also  be  respected  by  the  press,  must  like- 
wise be  safeguarded. 

The  press  generally  and  journalism  in  particular  pretends  to 
control  human  actions  in  all  their  forms.  Is  it  not  natural  that 
there  be  another  power  which  shald  -control  journalism  and 
free  it  from  its  abuses?  Of  course  this  may  be  accomplished  by 
criticism  passed  upon  one  paper  by  another,  but  such  criticism, 
it  is  safe  to  say,  will  not  succeed  in  stopping  the  evil  entirely.  On 
the  other  hand,  if  such  criticism  should  be  made  the  duty  of  a 
court  of  newspaper  men,  belter  results  can  be  expected.  Even  in 
parliament,  where  freedom  to  support  any  opinion  is  permitted, 
absolute  checks  have  been   evolved   to   eliminate   abuse   of   this 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  95 

freedom.  There  is,  for  example,  the  regulations  and  rights  of 
the  president  of  the  parliament,  who,  being  elected  by  the  rep- 
resentatives, is  authorized  to  restrain  them  from  going  beyond 
the  limits  within  which  freedom  of  speech  can  rightly  be  exer- 
cised. In  a  similar  way  I  should  like  to  see  the  power  exercised 
by  the  President  of  the  House  of  Representatives  vested  in  the 
hands  of  a  Council  of  Newspapermen. 

Such  a  council  should  be  created  in  every  county  or  for  any 
other  natural  fixed  area.  In  addition  it  perhaps  might  render 
great  service  in  promoting  the  ideas  of  a  high  Court  of  an  Inter- 
national Press  Council,  an  Areopagus  of  the  Press,  which  might 
be  called  upon  to  pass  upon  the  actions  of  a  local  court.  This 
Areopagus  could  well  be  composed  of  persons  belonging  to  the 
press  and  to  the  learned  professions  who  stand  in  high  esteem. 

I  now  desire  to  say  a  few  words  on  the  second  subject  of  the 
program. 

We  speak  of  the  freedom  of  the  press,  although  in  a  few 
countries  this  freedom  is  expressed  under  certain  limitations. 
The  freedom  of  the  press  is  universally  recognized,  but  never- 
theless is  the  press  really  free?  Is  this  freedom  absolute?  I 
believe  that  it  is  not.  Every  daily  or  weekly  paper  wants  first 
of  all  to  live.  Can  all  papers  live  only  with  the  freedom  of  the 
press?  There  is  another  freedom,  the  financial  one.  A  paper 
must  be  honorable  and  independent  always  by  publishing  the 
truth.  But  can  all  papers  by  publishing  only  that  which  is  sup- 
posed to  be  pure  and  true  command  a  sufficient  circulation  to 
be  financially  independent?  The  press  desired  freedom  from 
law  and  from  official  administration,  but  a  paper  must  have  also 
financial  freedom  and  protection  from  other  papers  which  resort 
to  vicious  methods  in  securing  a  large  circulation.  The  compe- 
tition of  papers  in  increasing  the  size  of  their  publications  brings 
them  either  to  death  or  to  the  use  of  methods  which  are  often 
questionable.  Plow  can  these  two  problems,  financial  freedom 
and  freedom  from  questionable  practices  to  win  circulation,  re- 
sorted to  by  competing  papers,  be  solved? 

Large  enterprises  and  great  corporations  have  the  means  of 
influencing  the  policy  of  a  paper  by  giving  to  it  large  advertise- 
ments, or  by  withholding  such  patronage.  Is  the  control  of 
corporations  in  respect  to  such  matters  possible  ?    The  same  thing 


96         The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

can  be  said  regarding  the  advertising  of  public  institutions,  gov- 
ernments, counties,  communities.  All  these  institutions  and 
agencies  can  give  or  withhold  advertisements,  the  decision  turn- 
ing on  whether  or  not  the  paper  is  agreeable  to  the  officials. 
What,  then,  can  be  said  of  the  boasted  independence  of  the  paper? 

The  present  Greek  government  gives  no  advertising  matter  to 
the  newspapers  which  support  the  political  party  of  Venizelos. 
This  financial  assistance  is  exclusively  for  the  royalist  press. 
That  means  that  something  like  one  or  two  hundred  thousand 
francs  yearly  are  won  by  every  royalist  paper  and  lost  by  the 
liberal  press.  Where  is  the  freedom  of  the  press?  Of  the  Greek 
liberal  papers,  which  supported  Venizelos'  policy  with  respect  to 
the  allies,  more  than  half  have  been  put  out  of  business  through 
their  loss  of  advertising  from  the  government,  community  and 
business  sources.    Where,  then,  is  the  freedom  of  the  press? 

And  there  is  another  thing  which  places  the  freedom  of  the 
press  in  jeopardy — the  concentration  of  several  papers  in  the 
hands  of  one  person  or  one  enterprise.  When  a  rich  man  can 
buy  several  of  the  most  important  newspapers  of  a  country,  how 
can  we  speak  of  the  freedom  of  the  press?  Should  this  be  al- 
lowed? A  rich  man  with  a  chain  of  newspapers  can  do  what  he 
pleases  without  responsibility.  Is  this  not  an  important  subject 
for  discussion? 

And  what  about  a  newspaper  the  ownership  of  which  passes 
from  one  person,  having  a  given  policy  to  another  with  a  totally 
different  policy  .respecting  political  and  social  afifairs?  The 
journalists  of  such  a  paper  must  change  their  opinions  and  convic- 
tions or  lose  their  positions.  Will  journalism  always  be  a  mat- 
ter of  money  and  only  a  matter  of  money,  a  chattel  to  be  trans- 
ferred from  hand  to  hand  for  a  sum?  And  if,  through  the  talent 
of  an  editor  and  because  of  the  high  and  honorable  principles  on 
which  a  paper  has  been  conducted,  it  acquires  the  esteem  of  the 
public,  is  it  right  that  this  paper  can  be  transferred  to  any  rich 
man  who  thereby  has  the  opportunity  of  purchasing  honor  and 
selling  dishonor? 

I  have  touched  on  different  points  not  because  I  expect  that 
on  all  these  points  resolutions  can  be  passed.  I  only  wish  to  put 
down  questions  which  I  hope  will  be  largely  discussed  in  a  future 
congress,  and  it  is  from  these  future  congresses  that   I  expect 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  97 

the  fruits  of  the  endeavor  of  our  president,  Dr.  WilHams,  whose 
name,  I  am  sure,  will  be  written  in  history  as  the  name  of  one 
of  the  great  pioneers  of  progress  and  civilization,  although  minus 
any  ambition.    (Applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  excellent  paper  that  Mr.  Coutoupis 
has  read  will  find  consideration  later  on  the  Congress  program. 

I  introduce  to  you  as  the  next  speaker  Mr.  Ludvig  Saxe,  Sec- 
retary of  the  Norwegian  Press  Association,  of  Christiania,  Nor- 
way, who  will  speak  upon:  "Truth  and  Falsehood  in  the  Press." 

MR.  SAXE:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Two  hun- 
dred years  ago  there  was  a  Norwegian  poet  by  the  name  of  Hol- 
berg.  I  suppose  he  may  have  been  interviewed  by  some  clever 
journalist,  for  in  one  of  his  books  he  says:  If  you  meet  a  good 
storymaker  he  must  certainly  be  a  newspaper  man!  And  fifty 
years  ago  the  great  Norwegian  poet,  Ibsen,  wrote  his  political 
comedy,  "The  League  of  Youth."  One  of  the  characters,  an  ed- 
itor of  a  small  newspaper,  exclaims:  "It  does  not  pay  to  publish 
a  clean  newspaper,  people  want  a  shady  one !" 

Well,  after  this  you  may  conclude  that  the  Norwegian  jour- 
nalists are  a  bad  lot.  But  I  dare  say  they  are  not.  At  any  rate 
the  two  sentences  I  have  just  quoted  prove  that  the  question, 
"Truth  and  falsehood  in  the  press,"  is  a  very  old  one. 

It  will  probably  be  admitted  that  this  question  is  a  most  in- 
teresting, as  well  as  a  very  delicate  one.  Before  I  left  my  coun- 
try, one  of  my  friends  at  home,  a  journalist,  said  to  me,  "I  sup- 
pose you  are  not  going  to  tell  me  that  there  is  any  falsehood  in 
my  paper,  are  you?  "Of  course  not,"  I  said,  "not  in  yours, 
but  certainly  in  all  the  other  papers !" 

Well,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  I  do  not  want  to  give  any  of- 
fense to  my  colleagues  here  today,  but  I  certainly  feel  called 
upon  to  express  some  disagreeable  things  on  this  occasion. 

We  may  ask:  What  is  the  truth? 

If  several  news  writers  go  to  report  a  woman-sufifrage  meet- 
ing or  a  poultry  exposition  or  another  gathering,  we  would  not 
get  exactly  the  same  report  from  all  of  them.  The  fact  which 
is  to  be  described  will,  to  a  certain  degree,  take  color  from  its 
author.  But  here  we  have  to  be  very  careful.  In  the  leading 
articles  and  in  the  discussions  in  the  press  we  may  use  what  de- 


98        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

sirable  colors  we  want, — indeed,  a  newspaper  without  color  is 
a  newspaper  without  a  soul,  and  you  would  soon  drop  asleep  over 
it.    But  the  facts  always  ought  to  be  kept  holy. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  all  of  us  are  transgressors  as  to 
this.  I  know  of  an  editor  who  claims  that  his  paper  is  the  only 
absolutely  trustworthy  newspaper  in  his  country  because  it  con- 
tains nothing  but  official  advertisements !  We  may  be  careless 
and  drop  too  much  color  into  our  news.  Or  we  may  happen  to 
be  a  little  angry  and  consequently  pour  a  good  splash  of  black 
into  the  pot  instead  of  the  white  or  the  blue.  As  the  rainbow, 
the  journalistic  language  has  many  shades. 

When  does  the  truth  end  and  the  falsehood  begin?  You 
cannot  give  any  general  rule  as  to  this,  of  course,  but  every  con- 
scientious journalist  knows  when  he  is  within,  and  when  he  is 
on  the  wrong  side  of  the  border.  As  a  rule  it  may  be  all  right 
to  keep  silent,  but  an  editor  may  be  on  the  wrong  side  even  if 
he  does  not  write  a  single  word.  If  a  newspaper  decides  to  be 
silent  about  a  political  scandal  for  instance,  it  will  indirectly  con- 
tribute by  its  very  silence  to  the  formation  of  public  opinion. 
There  is  a  certain  country  in  Europe,  there  may  be  several  of 
them,  where  the  editors  can  be  paid  to  write,  and  paid  to  keep 
things  back.  Many  of  the  newspapers  in  that  country  contain 
only  four  pages,  and  it  is  truthfully  said  as  a  joke  that  they  live 
by  their  fifth  page,  and  that  means  by  the  things  that  are  not  pub- 
lished. These  editors  can  certainly  affirm  the  truth  that  silence 
is  golden.  If  I  am  not  silent,  I  may  tell  one  half  of  the  fact 
and  by  cunningly  suppressing  the  other  half  I  shall  create  an 
entirely  false  impression.  And  furthermore,  we  have  got  all 
the  different  shades  of  faking,  from  the  little  distortion  to  the 
big  lie,  that  sometimes  will  be  found. 

We,  the  makers  of  the  newspapers,  are  indeed  proud  of  our 
profession.  We  know  that  it  is  one  of  the  finest  in  the  world, 
and  for  that  reason  we  are  sorry  to  see  that  there  is  nevertheless 
something  rotten  about  it.  We  are  all  honest  in  our  social  lives, 
when  we  are  talking  to  our  friends.  Why  are  we  not  always  as 
honest  when  we  are  talking  to  thousands  or  millions  of  readers, 
through  our  newspapers?    Why? 

I  find  there  are  two  causes:  the  first  one  is  to  be  found  in 
the  system  ;  the  other  one  emanates  from  the  journalist  himself. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  99 

Let  us  take  one  look  at  the  system !  We  have  all  of  us  heard 
of  the  so-called  "Independent  press."  It  sounds  very  fine  in  a 
speech,  but,  alas,  it  is  in  many  cases  something  of  a  catch-word. 
The  press  is  independent  only  to  a  certain  degree.  The  press  is  con- 
trolled in  some  way  or  other,  not  only  by  the  proprietor  but  also  by 
the  advertisers  and  by  the  reading  public.  When  I  say  proprietor, 
we  naturally  think  of  a  man — a  very  powerful  one — but  just  as 
often  we  may  as  well  think  of  a  bank  or  a  trust  or  a  group  of 
financiers,  a  power  which  is  not  seen,  but  which  is,  in  fact,  very 
much  felt.  As  a  rule  the  opinion  of  the  proprietor  and  the  opin- 
ion of  the  editor  harmonize.  Should  the  contrary,  however,  hap- 
pen to  be  the  case,  the  proprietor  will  tell  the  editor  to  write  as 
he  wants.  Perhaps  the  proprietor  tells  the  editor  to  write  things 
which  he,  the  editor,  knows  to  be  a  falsehood.  What  is  the  poor 
editor  in  this  case  going  to  do?  Shall  he  refuse  to  write  ac- 
cording to  the  dictates  and  by  so  doing  risk  losing  his  position? 
Or  shall  he  yield  and  obediently  write  what  his  conscience  tells 
him  to  be  wrong?  Brave  and  conscientious  editors  and  jour- 
nalists have  sometimes  refused  to  do  so,  and  as  a  consequence 
have  been  turned  out.     Honor  be  to  them ! 

Sometimes  the  proprietor,  too,  has  refused  to  bend  before 
the  financial  or  industrial  powers,  and  then  the  advertising  has 
been  trimmed  down,  the  bank  loans  called,  and  the  whole  concern 
put  out  of  existence.  If  the  financial  power  behind  the  pro- 
prietor would  use  the  newspaper  to  the  benefit  of  the  public, 
it  would  be  all  right.  But  alas,  too  often  the  newspapers  are 
being  used  to  promote  the  private  interests  and  speculations  of 
these  financiers.  The  public  has  in  all  probability  confidence  in 
the  newspapers,  and  is  on  that  account  getting  fooled.  It  means 
corruption  if  a  proprietor  uses  one  newspaper  in  this  way,  but 
if  a  trust  controls  many  newspapers  and  makes  use  of  all  of 
them  with  the  same  intention,  it  is  an  outrage  against  humanity. 

It  has  been  said  that  journalism  of  today  is  the  business  of 
presenting  the  news  in  the  interest  of  the  economic  privilege,  and 
that  it  is  as  unreasonable  to  expect  truth-telling  of  a  capitalistic 
newspaper  as  it  is  to  expect  asceticism  at  a  cannibal  feast.  The 
author  of  that  assertion  probably  means,  that  things  would  be 
quite  different  if  the  press  were  socialized.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
it  is  my  opinion  thrjt  the  cause  lies  deeper.     In  a  socialistic  or 


100        The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

communistic  newspaper,  owned  by  a  labor  party,  you  may  find 
the  same  lack  of  respect  for  the  truth.  There,  too,  the  system 
may  require  misrepresentations  of  facts  and  partial  or  whole 
fabrications  put  into  the  newspaper,  not  for  the  sake  of  profit, 
but  in  order  to  hurt  the  adversaries  and  strengthen  the  political 
power  of  the  party. 

Another  dominating  element  beside  the  proprietor  is  the  big 
advertiser.  The  modern  newspaper  could  not  exist  without  the 
advertisements.  The  business  manager,  of  course,  wants  to  be 
on  good  terms  with  the  advertisers  and  tells  the  editors  to  write 
nothing  but  nice  things  about  them.  If  a  company  orders  ad- 
vertisements for  $1,000  in  a  newspaper,  for  instance,  do  you  think 
that  the  editor  of  that  newspaper  would  feel  called  upon  to  ex- 
pose the  company,  even  if  he  knew  that  it  swindled  the  public? 
Likely  not.  And  have  you  seen  a  newspaper  print  things  un- 
favorable to  a  big  department  store  even  if  that  would  have  been 
very  well  justified?     Seldom  at  any  rate. 

The  third  great  power  outside  the  editorial  offices,  which  ex- 
ercises an  enormous  influence  on  the  newspaper,  is  the  public, 
the  readers.  In  fact  you  may  ask  if  it  is  the  editor  or  the  pub- 
lic who  is  the  real  leader  of  the  newspaper.  I  suppose  that  it 
very  often  is  the  public.  You  may  find  great  journalists  who 
can  really  influence  and  turn  the  general  opinion,  but  as  a  rule 
we  may  probably  say  that  the  journalist  forms  and  fixes  the 
opinion  of  the  public.  Every  newspaper  tries  to  obtain  popu- 
larity, and  who  can  tell  how  many  facts  have  been  colored  or 
faked  in  order  to  please  the  thousand-headed  monster  which  is 
called  the  public? 

The  public  press  is  generally  the  reflection  of  the  public  taste. 
In  former  days  people  wanted  leading  article  reflection,  and  a 
certain  part  of  the  public  wants  it  yet.  That  is  probably  the 
best  part  of  the  public.  But  everyone  wants  news.  The  modern 
way  of  reporting  was  started  in  America.  It  made  the  news- 
papers alive  and  sensational.  Now  this  form  of  reporting  has 
carried  the  world.  People  cry  to  get  thrilling  news  every  day ; 
the  masses  seek  the  newspapers  which  have  got  the  most  cap- 
tivating headings,  and  the  newspapers  have  submitted — ^more  or 
less — to  the  taste  of  the  masses.  If  nothing  extraordinary  hap- 
pens, the  news  is  colored  and  peppered.  The  articles  might  have 
been  more  reliable,  but — never  mind ! 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  101 

Have  I,  in  your  judgment,  been  too  disagreeable  to  the  pro- 
prietors, the  advertisers  or  to  the  public?  In  that  case  I  am 
sorry.  But  now  I  am  coming  to  ourselves  and  I  shall  endeavor  to 
read  us  a  little  homily.  I  heard  once  the  following  definition: 
"A  smart  reporter  is  a  man  who  always  is  on  the  spot  when  the 
devil  is  at  liberty,  and  who  knows  how  to  set  the  devil  free  if 
the  season  is  dull."  Well,  it  is  fine  to  be  a  quick  fellow,  but  in 
order  to  be  a  good  journalist  I  think  it  is  necessary  to  have  some 
few  other  qualities  too. 

How  do  we  get  the  news?  I  do  not  say  that  we  murder  each 
other  in  order  to  get  a  scoop,  but  certainly  the  news  is  some- 
times stolen.  A  man  is  interviewed  and  afterwards  he  gets  sur- 
prised by  reading  in  the  newspaper  the  story  which  the  journal- 
ist has  been  able  to  get  out  of  it.  As  to  the  reports  from  a  meet- 
ing, we  all  know  that  they  often  are  composed  and  printed  be- 
fore the  meeting  is  held.  And  by  a  lucky  strike  the  reporter 
sometimes  writes  what  really  happens.  A  city,  a  business,  a 
congress  shall  be  "boosted,"  and  glorious  descriptions  and  golden 
promises  are  printed  in  advance — never  mind  the  truth.  The 
press  sends  out  a  false  report,  and  in  many  countries  it  is  very 
difficult  to  get  it  corrected.  The  correction  is  not  regarded  as 
"good  stuff"  and  consequently  it  goes  into  the  waste-basket.  In 
that  way  we  may  easily  spoil  a  man's  reputation  without  doing 
what  ought  to  be  done  in  order  to  restore  it.  An  unhappy  woman 
is  going  to  be  divorced,  after  years  of  mental  suffering.  Her 
person,  her  home,  and  her  robes  are  closely  described  to  a  laugh- 
ing public.     Never  mind  her  feelings ! 

We  always  have  to  hurry,  the  competition  is  great.  But  do 
we  need  for  that  reason  to  run  away  from  the  truth?  People 
want  sensation,  that  cannot  be  denied.  But  what  they  really  are 
anxious  for  are  thrilling  facts  not  stories.  Nobody  really  wants 
to  be  humbugged.  But  the  journalist  needs  mental  balance,  be- 
cause people  always  try  to  influence  him  to  write  in  this  or  that 
way,  and  in  no  vocation  of  life,  more  knowledge,  culture  and 
clearness  of  mind  is  needed. 

If  we  journalists  are  not  always  respected  and  honored  as 
we  want  to  be,  we  may  blame  ourselves  for  it.  If  we  get  the 
habit  of  laying  it  on  too  thick  when  we  are  telling  something  to 
our   friends  they   will,   after   having  discovered   it.   not   find   us 


102       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

trustworthy  anymore.  Well,  if  we  fool  the  public  from  time  to 
time  how  can  we  expect  them  to  trust  us?  A  falsehood  is  a 
falsehood,  even  if  it  is  printed.  The  more  sensational  things  the 
journalist  can  write  the  better  he  is  paid  and  this  gives  a  great 
temptation  to  write  with  a  certain  disregard  of  truth.  But  I  sup- 
pose it  would  pay  for  all  of  us  to  be  less  clever,  less  smart,  and 
more  reliable. 

It  is  dif^cult  for  the  journalists  individually  to  change  this. 
But  the  reporter's  unions,  the  press  associations,  and  the  press 
congresses  can  do  a  great  deal  to  raise  the  ethical  standard. 

I  come  from  a  small  country  myself.  We  have  got  no  million- 
editions  in  Norway,  and  the  fighting  in  the  newspaper  world  is 
less  than  in  the  greater  countries.  I  willingly  admit  that  we  have 
got  a  lot  to  learn  as  to  the  technical  things  in  newspaper  making 
and  we  admire  what  especially  the  Americans  have  done,  in  this 
way.  But  I  think  I  may  state  that  the  moral  standard  of  the 
Norwegian  press  is  a  pretty  high  one.  You  would  not  find  any 
Norwegian  editor  or  journalist  who  could  be  bribed  to  write 
what  he  knew  was  false,  and  if  anyone  came  to  an  editor  and 
asked  him:  "What  is  your  price  to  write  so  and  so?"  or  "What 
is  your  price  to  support  me  at  the  elections?"  he  would  promptly 
be  kicked  out.  (Applause)  And  that  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  most 
of  the  newspapers  are  small  and  poor,  but  their  ideals  are  great. 

In  a  Norwegian  newspaper  you  will  not  find  advertisements 
or  paid  paragraphs  in  the  text.  All  the  advertisements  are  to  be 
found  on  the  advertisement  pages  and  you  could  never  get  a  paid 
paragraph  in  a  text  column.  The  newspapers  in  Norway  try 
to  give  correct  information ;  they  never  fake  telegrams,  but  they 
have  got  a  good  cable-service  from  all  the  principal  countries  of 
the  world.  Divorces  are  not  mentioned  in  the  press  because  they 
are  considered  as  private  things ;  and  "my  house  is  my  castle." 
If  a  newspaper  tells  something  that  is  not  true  about  a  man,  the 
offended  one  can,  with  the  law  in  his  hand,  claim  to  have  it  cor- 
rected in  the  next  issue  and  printed  with  type  as  big  as  in  the 
first  paragraph. 

I  really  do  not  think  that  a  newspaper  in  Norway  could  live 
long,  if  it  tried  to  fool  the  public,  because  people  are  so  well  in- 
formed. Every  man  and  woman  reads  several  newspapers  every 
day,   because   the   papers   are   cheap    and    numerous,    probably 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  103 

cheaper  and  more  numerous  than  in  any  other  country  in  pro- 
portion to  the  population. 

Well,  I  am  not  going  to  tell  you  that  the  press  in  Norway 
is  an  ideal  one,  nor  that  the  journalists  are  angels.  We  have  got 
the  same  problems  as  in  other  countries  but  the  ethical  standard 
of  the  press  is  probably  higher  than  in  several  greater  countries, 
perhaps  because  the  conditions  are  so  small.  I  believe  that  the 
press  organizations  have  contributed  to  this  standard  of  things. 
There  is  one  "Press  Association  of  Norway"  where  I  have  the 
honor  to  be  the  secretary ;  this  association  includes  both  editors- 
in-chief  and  subordinate  journalists.  Another  association  is 
formed  by  the  subordinate  journalists  only.  The  proprietors 
have  their  own  association;  and  there  are  several  others.  If  an 
editor  thinks  that  another  editor  has  libeled  him  or  been  unfair 
to  him,  a  complaint  is  made  to  the  Press  Association,  where  the 
question  is  settled. 

I  believe  in  press  organizations.  I  think  that  they  ought  to 
be  strong  in  all  countries.  They  will  help  to  raise  the  moral 
standard  of  the  newspapers  and  both  the  economical,  social  and 
ethical  standard  of  the  journalist. 

I  have  got  the  impression  that  before  the  great  war  the  press 
of  the  world  was  striving  to  reach  a  higher  ethical  level.  In 
many  countries  the  newspapers  tried  to  understand  their  adver- 
saries and  the  verbal  abuse  was  not  so  common  as  before.  Then 
the  war  came  and  flung  most  of  the  newspapers  together  into 
two  huge  camps,  and  patriotic  or  chauvinistic  tones  were  heard 
all  over  the  world  for  several  years.  The  editors  in  the  different 
countries  got  little  time — and  indeed  little  opportunity — to  ask : 
"Is  it  truth  or  falsehood?"  During  these  terrible  years  the  editors 
found  it  more  natural  to  ask :  Does  it  concern  friend  or  foe  ? 
Well,  it  is  a  great  thing  to  be  patriotic  but  it  is  sometimes  dan- 
gerous to  the  truth. 

Of  course,  there  have  been  newspapers  which  have  kept  their 
brain  cool  and  their  judgment  clear  all  the  time,  but  it  seems  to 
me  that  in  general  the  ethical  standard  of  the  newspapers  of  the 
world  has  sunk  during  the  war,  because  the  newspapers  have 
been  governed  by  passion,  and  passion  sometimes  forgets  to  re- 
spect the  truth. 

The  press  is  the  mightiest  means  to  bring  about  war  or 
peace.     The  better  the  journalists  from  all  countries  know  each 


104       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

other,  the  sharper  will  they  watch  that  no  lies  about  other  nations 
are  inserted,  and  the  more  difficult  will  it  become  to  start  a  new 
war.  For  generally  it  is  the  lies  that  start  the  wars.  Therefore 
I  think  that  a  Press  Congress  of  the  World  is  a  splendid  thing 
for  the  promotion  of  the  truth,  of  journalistic  ethics,  and  of  in- 
ternational understanding. 

The  moral  level  of  the  press  must  be  raised  higher  than  ever. 
The  press  is  a  gigantic  force  that  to  a  high  degree  governs  the 
world,  its  opinions  and  its  activities.  To  be  a  servant  of  this 
great  force  is  a  privilege  which  we  are  happy  to  possess.  The 
press  shall  work  for  the  uplifting  and  the  enlightening  of  hu- 
manity. But  with  the  greatness  of  the  task  follows  the  greatness 
of  the  responsibility.  A  splendid  opportunity  to  serve  our  fel- 
low-men is  given  us ;  it  is  our  duty  to  serve  them  well.  Because 
we  love  our  work  and  venerate  it  we  must  see  if  anything  is 
wrong  and  ask  how  to  improve  upon  it.  We  cannot  in  a  short 
while  change  the  conditions  of  the  press,  the  system,  the  cap- 
italistic power,  the  dependence  upon  the  advertisers,  the  taste 
of  the  public.  But  what  we  can  do  is  to  strengthen  the  claims  to 
our  own  respect  for  the  truth. 

I  need  hardly  say  that  I  have  the  greatest  confidence  in  the 
development  of  the  Press  of  the  world.  This  magnificent  power 
is  not  perfect,  no  human  institutions  are  perfect,  but  the  press 
has  reached  a  technical  stage  which  is  wonderful  and  it  will 
certainly  reach  such  an  ethical  level  that  the  press  with  full  right 
can  be  what  it  ought  to  be,  and  what  it  is  already  to  a  high  de- 
gree: a  guiding  star,  a  warning  headlight,  and  above  all,  the  con- 
science of  the  world.   (Applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  If  there  be  bitterness  in  this  stimulat- 
ing paper  so  forcefully  read  by  Mr.  Saxe.  I  am  sure  it  is  the 
bitterness  which  is  good  medicine  to  us  all  in  journalism. 

It  was  a  source  of  regret  to  us  all  that  the  exigencies  of  the 
occasion  compelled  us  to  leave  the  Japanese  theater  the  other 
evening  in  Hilo,  before  the  final  completion  of  the  program  there, 
and  I  take  this  opportunity  to  express  publicly  our  regret  that 
the  sailing  of  the  Matsonia  took  the  delegates  away  from  so 
charming  and  carefully  prepared  a  program  before  the  final 
number  was  completed.  (Applause.) 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  105 

We  are  now  to  hear  as  the  closing  paper  before  the  final 
announcements  of  the  morning  Mr.  K.  Sugimura  of  the  Tokyo 
Asahi    Shimbun,     one     of     the     great     newspapers     of     Japan. 

MR.  SUGIMURA:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen: 
The  subject  of  my  address  is  the  "Logical  Basis  of  News  Value." 

What  should  newspapers  print  ?  This  is  an  old  question.  The 
word  "should"  has  two  meanings  in  this  connection.  What  have 
newspapers  to  print  as  their  proper  duty,  and  what  had  they 
better  print  from  the  viewpoint  of  policy?  In  order  to  solve  this 
problem,  much  has  been  said  about  "news  value."  But  none  has 
yet  clearly  established  the  standard  as  to  how  to  appraise  it. 
Some  contend  that  news  has  the  greatest  news  value.  But  this 
interpretation  has  no  deeper  significance  than  to  say  that  news- 
papers are  the  papers  of  news.  Others  say  that  various  features 
of  man's  life  have  the  greatest  news  value.  But  that  is  nothing 
but  to  say  "because  newspapers  are  made  by  man  for  man  to 
read." 

What  should  be  the  standard  of  judgment  of  news  value? 
Other  things  aside,  can  we  not  determine  it  by  logic  alone? 
My  present  paper  is  a  feeble  attempt  to  throw  some  light,  how- 
ever dim,  on  this  subject. 

I  start  from  very  simple  facts.  Newspapers  have  certain 
characteristics  that  are  peculiar  to  them  and  which  nothing  else 
has.  Among  them  two  are  particularly  noticeable.  The  first 
is  their  "daily  publication,"  and  the  second  their  "wide  and  quick 
circulation."  Though  there  are  many  different  kinds  of  pub- 
lications, it  is  only  newspapers  that  have  these  two  features. 
Even  books  and  magazines  which  resemble  newspapers  do  not 
possess  them. 

Now  it  is  the  most  natural  and  intelligent  way  to  find  out 
pecularities  of  things  and  turn  them  to  the  best  use.  Coal  is 
combustible,  and  therefore  it  should  be  used  as  fuel.  Wheat  is 
edible  and  nutritious,  and  therefore  it  should  be  used  as  food 
stufif.  Steam  is  expansive,  and  therefore  James  Watt  recom- 
mended it  as  a  motor  power.  Extremely  high  speed  causes  eleva- 
tion, and  the  Wrights  invented  the  flying  machine.  Likewise  to 
let  newspapers  develop  most  naturally  and  intelligently  is  to 
make  the  best  use  of  their  two  characteristics  which  I  have  pointed 
out.     I  shall  examine  them  one  by  one. 


106      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

1.     Daily  Publication. 

Man  usually  takes  three  meals  a  day.  Each  meal  ought  to 
be  digested  before  the  next  one.  If  luncheon  is  not  digested  by 
the  dinner  time,  it  cannot  be  said  a  good  luncheon.  Since  news- 
papers are  published  daily,  they  should  print  what  can  be  di- 
gested day  by  day  by  readers.  If  it  is  not  digested  by  the  time 
of  the  next  issue,  the  materials  will  become  stale  and  no  good 
for  readers.  Monthly  magazines  contain  heavy  materials  which 
can  be  digested  in  one  month.  So  they  are  called  "magazine"  in 
the  sense  of  the  "store  houses  for  preserving  materials  for  a  long 
period."  If  weekly  journals  are  so  edited  that  materials  are 
gathered  in  a  week  ahead  of  publication  and  are  so  printed  that 
they  may  be  read  within  a  week,  they  may  be  said  to  have  most 
truly  represented  the  meaning  of  weekly. 

According  to  Mr.  Kennedy  Jones  the  first  difficulty  that  con- 
fronted Sir  George  Newnes'  Tit  Bits  was  that  Tit  Bits  was  as 
readable  a  week  or  month  after  publication.  The  reading  it  pro- 
vided was  of  a  kind  that  was  never  new,  never  old.  Such  may  be 
good  for  books,  but  not  for  such  a  weekly  paper  as  Tit  Bits. 
Weekly  papers  should  print  what  is  readable  for  a  week  and  no 
longer.  Or  else  there  will  be  no  meaning  of  publishing  them 
week  after  week,  and  no  reader  will  want  to  have  their  weekly 
issue.  As  for  daily  newspapers,  they  must  let  the  readers  read 
daily  occurrences  daily,  daily  reports,  that  is  latest  informations 
prepared  every  day.  They  are  what  are  called  news.  In  that 
sense,  it  may  be  said  that  there  are  newspapers  and  then  news, 
but  not  that  news  comes  first  and  then  newspapers. 

Daily  news  for  daily  newspapers.  That  is  the  most  effective 
way  of  expressing  the  meaning  of  "daily  publication."  Carrying 
the  principle  further,  it  will  mean  hourly  news  for  hourly  editions. 
Daily  news  cannot  be  published  except  through  daily  newspapers. 
In  the  case  of  weekly  or  monthly  journals,  what  was  news  at  the 
time  it  was  gathered,  is  liable  not  to  be  regarded  as  news  at  the 
time  of  publication.  Here  lies  the  news  value  of  news  for  daily 
papers. 

Now  "daily  publication"  means  a  "regular  repetition."  Be- 
cause newspapers  are  printed  daily,  the  same  process  is  reg- 
ularly carried  on  every  day.  In  other  words,  every  day  at  a 
certain  hour,  newspapers  of  a  regular  shape  are  distributed  to 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  107 

readers.  When  thus  repeated,  even  trifles  become  momentous. 
When  they  are  repeated  at  a  regular  hour  at  a  regular  place, 
their  impressions  upon  readers  will  be  deep  and  great.  A  hint 
will  gradually  become  a  conviction,  and  a  suggestion  prevalence. 
Therefore  one  who  wants  to  go  slowly  but  steadily  at  con- 
vincing others  will  succeed  much  better  by  pounding  upon  their 
head  one  portion  of  his  ideas  one  morning  and  another  portion 
the  next  morning,  than  by  printing  a  large  volume  in  which  every 
detail  is  exhausted.  The  editorials  in  newspapers  are  illustrations 
of  that  point.    Their  news  value  springs  from  that  consideration. 

"Regular  repetition"  forms  a  "habit  of  reading"  on  the  part 
of  readers.  As  materials  are  measured  to  the  degree  of  daily  di- 
gestion, the  appetite  of  readers  is  thereby  whetted.  As  they  are 
supplied  daily  in  a  readable  quantity,  the  readers  will  be  able  to 
read  them  without  experiencing  any  slightest  pains.  Any  other 
reading  matter  which  can  be  read  at  any  time  as  one  pleases,  is 
liable  not  to  be  read  at  all.  But  when  it  has  become  one's  habit 
to  read  newspapers  either  in  the  morning  at  breakfast  table  or 
in  the  evening  in  the  street  car  on  one's  way  home,  one  almost 
involuntarily  reads  them  on  account  of  his  reading  habit.  It 
is  for  this  reason  that  a  man  who  never  takes  hold  of  a  volume 
of  300  or  400  pages  should  be  pleased  to  read  papers. 

There  is  no  newspaper  in  the  world  that  is  so  much  given 
to  printing  serial  stories  as  those  of  Japan.  There  appear  every 
day  essays,  fictions  and  what  are  called  "Kodan,"  Story-teller's 
stories.  Noting  this  an  American  journalist  once  said:  "The 
newspaper,  as  Delane  of  The  Times  remarked,  is  a  publication, 
every  issue  of  which  is  complete  in  itself.  It  is  not  a  thing  to  be 
completed  by  serial  publications.  To  print  today  a  continuation 
of  an  article  of  yesterday  and  expect  the  readers  to  remember 
what  was  printed  yesterday  until  today  is  to  submerge  the  mean- 
ing of  the  newspaper."  Certainly  it  is  not  sensible  to  publish 
serially  in  a  newspaper  a  complicated  argument  for  days,  as  it  will 
overstrain  the  power  of  memory  of  readers.  But  if  it  is  a  light 
literature,  a  daily  reading  may  be  enjoyed  regardless  of  whether 
or  not  the  reader  remembers  what  he  reads  a  day  before. 

I  spoke  about  "Kodan"  just  now.  "Kodan"  is  a  form  of  old 
romantic  stories  of  Japan  told  by  story-tellers.  They  are  stories 
of    martial   bravery,    love,    revenge,    etc.      These    stories   are   all 


108      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

familiarly  known  to  the  Japanese,  and  most  of  them  have  been 
already  published  in  book  form.  As  they  are  all  known  to  the 
Japanese  and  written  in  books,  it  may  appear  at  first  thought 
a  meaningless  thing  to  reprint  them  in  papers.  But  of  all  stories 
in  newspapers  what  most  interest  Japanese  readers  is  the  "Ko- 
dan,"  and  the  quality  of  "Kodan"  considerably  affects  the  cir- 
culation. Are  the  story-teller's  "Kodan"  in  any  way  superior  to 
books?  No.  But  works  by  great  romancers,  such  as  the  famous 
Bakin,  when  reduced  into  a  "Kodan"  by  story-tellers  of  low 
education  and  cheap  taste,  are  well  read  and  enjoyed  by  many. 

There  are  two  reasons  for  that.  In  the  first  place,  a  story  in 
book  form  is  tedious  to  read;  whereas,  if  it  is  presented  to  read- 
ers in  readable  quantity  little  by  little,  their  reading  habit  is  en- 
couraged and  directed  to  it.  If  my  memory  serves,  Defoe's 
"Robinson  Crusoe"  first  appeared  as  a  book,  and  later  it  was 
printed  serially  in  papers.  The  so-called  "post-publication"  se- 
rial of  American  newspapers  is  also  based  on  the  same  principle. 
In  the  second  place,  the  readers  in  many  instances  do  not  expect 
to  be  taught  by  newspapers  about  what  they  do  not  know,  but 
rather  want  to  learn  more  about  things  with  which  they  are  al- 
ready familiar.  The  more  familiar  the  Japanese  are  with  the 
"Kodan"  stories,  the  greater  is  their  power  of  arresting  the  at- 
tention of  readers.  To  this  point  I  shall  refer  more  fully  later. 
2.     Wide  Circulation. 

In  order  to  obtain  and  maintain  a  wide  and  effective  circula- 
tion, it  is  natural  to  have  to  appeal  to  the  public.  What  then  will 
appeal  to  the  public  most  ? 

Before  entering  into  the  main  discussion  of  this  problem,  let 
me  give  you  a  suggestive  illustration.  Suppose  there  was  a  street 
car  collision  and  a  number  of  people  were  killed  and  injured. 
The  accident  will  be  reported  in  papers  either  that  evening  or  next 
morning.  Now  upon  reading  those  papers,  who  will  take  the 
greatest  interest  in  the  accounts?  Most  certainly  those  who 
were  aboard  the  said  street  car  at  the  time  of  the  accident.  Next 
to  them  will  come  the  relatives  or  friends  of  the  dead  and  in- 
jured. This  is  a  fact  and  not  an  argument.  One  may  hasten 
to  conclude  that  those  who  were  in  the  car  know  everything  about 
the  collision  and  need  not  read  of  it.  But  that  is  not  the  actual 
fact. 


1.. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  109 

The  public  want  to  read  in  newspapers  about  what  they  know. 
The  things  in  which  they  are  concerned  are  what  they  know  best. 
So  they  want  to  read  about  them.  If  I  may  be  allowed  to  talk 
of  my  personal  self,  I  have  been  long  engaged  in  the  journalistic 
work.  What  I  read  in  newspapers  with  the  keenest  interest  are 
what  I  have  written,  or  accounts  about  myself,  or  accounts  about 
people  whom  I  know.  On  the  contrary,  I  take  hardly  any  in- 
terest in  accounts  about  things  in  which  I  am  not  concerned  at  all. 
Mr.  Don  Seitz  of  the  New  York  World  gave  an  advice  to  men 
of  country  papers,  "to  be  particular  to  print  the  things  about 
which  their  constituency  is  already  informed  by  personal  con- 
tact." As  his  reason  for  the  advice,  he  explained  that  "nothing 
is  so  interesting  as  to  read  about  an  event  we  have  seen  wholly  or 
in  part,"  and  that  "the  reader  likes  to  compare  the  printed  re- 
port with  his  own  recollection."  That  condition  is  not  confined 
to  local  newspapers  alone.  It  is  the  case  with  the  newspaper 
readers  in  general. 

The  reader  does  not  want  to  be  instructed  by  newspapers  for 
the  first  time  about  things  of  which  he  has  had  no  knowledge. 
He  wants  to  learn  more  about  things  which  he  already  knows. 
He  does  not  seek  first  knowledge,  experience  or  information 
from  newspapers.  He  wants  to  have  his  own  knowledge,  ex- 
perience and  information  reproduced,  amplified,  and  sublimated 
by  them.  In  other  words,  he  wants  to  have  himself  third-per- 
sonified, just  as  people  find  some  pleasure  in  looking  at  their 
own  image  in  a  mirror. 

The  public  make  most  of  the  public's  own  doings,  that  is, 
the  human  life.  The  fact  that  one  attaches  importance  to  ac- 
counts about  himself  and  takes  interest  in  them  may  be  inter- 
preted to  mean  that  man  attaches  importance  to,  and  takes  in- 
terest in,  accounts  about  man.  Here  is  where  the  life  has  a  very 
important  news  value.  It  is  in  this  sense  that  the  young  hero 
of  the  "Young  Reporter"  by  Mr.  Drysdale  said:  "It's  the  people 
I  like  to  write  about.  I  don't  want  to  be  one  of  the  glowing  sun- 
set writers,  all  color  and  no  substance."  It  is  in  this  sense  that 
Professor  Bleyer  said :  "News  values  are  measured  by  the  extent 
to  which  news  affects  directly  the  lives  of  the  readers,  the  greater 
the  eflfect  and  the  larger  the  number  of  readers  affected,  the  bet- 
ter the  news."     It  is  in  this  sense  that  Mr.  Scott  of  the  Man- 


110       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Chester  Guardian  said  the  other  day :  "The  second  duty  of  a  news- 
paper is  to  reflect  life, — Hfe  in  all  its  multitudinous  aspects,  art, 
literature,  science,  commerce,  society,  pastimes,  religions,  every- 
thing— ^and  to  do  this  as  fully  and  as  fairly  as  it  knows  how." 

They  all  meant  the  same  thing.  No  matter  how  minutely  the 
sceneries  of  mountains  and  waters  may  be  described,  it  will  not 
have  any  value  as  a  newspaper  story.  No  matter  how  scientifically 
the  planetary  movements  are  explained  it  will  have  very  little 
news  value,  unless  it  has  some  connection  with  man's  daily  life. 
In  short,  all  news  stories  must  smell  human. 

In  the  Japanese  newspaper  circles,  it  has  been  a  custom  to  di- 
vide news  into  two  kinds :  viz,  "Koha"  and  "Nampa,"  that  is, 
heavy  news  and  light  news.  This  distinction  has  undergone  some 
change  in  significance  according  to  different  periods.  Formerly 
the  stories  on  politics,  diplomacy,  economics,  religion  and  educa- 
tion were  regarded  as  the  heavy  news ;  while  those  on  celebra- 
tions, weddings,  festivals,  crimes,  amusements,  literature,  theatres, 
etc.,  were  regarded  as  the  light  news.  The  circumstances  which 
helped  to  create  this  distinction  in  Japan  was  that  in  the  early 
history  of  journalism  there  were  two  kinds  of  newspapers  which 
were  exclusively  devoted  to  heavy  news  and  light  news  respec- 
tively. The  former  enjoyed  a  dignified  influence  as  newspapers, 
though  they  were  not  financially  successful ;  while  the  latter 
having  a  large  number  of  subscribers  were  profitable,  though 
they  had  no  political  or  social  influence.  In  no  time,  however, 
the  Japanese  journals  began  to  be  a  conglomeration  of  the  two 
and  to  contain  both  heavy  and  light  news  together  in  one  paper. 
As  was  the  case  when  there  were  two  classes,  so  even  after  the 
combination  was  effected,  most  readers  still  have  had  the  ten- 
dency of  enjoying  the  light  news.  While  scornfully  deriding 
the  light  news  as  "Sammen  Dane"  (meaning  "third  page  stories," 
as  this  kind  of  news  was  formerly  printed  on  page  3),  no  one 
could  deny  the  fact  that  the  light  news  has  attracted  far  more 
readers  than  the  heavy  news.  The  reason  is  this.  The  stories 
on  politics  or  economics,  that  is  the  heavy  news,  interest  only  a 
class  of  people  who  are  specially  concerned  in  such  subjects.  On 
the  other  hand,  the  accounts  of  robbery,  murder,  elopement, 
suicide  and  kindred  events  attract  the  attention  of  any 
person.     vSuch  accounts  have  something  touching  to   the  hearts 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  111 

of  readers,  giving  in  some  way  or  other  an  explanation  of  man 
or  woman.  Between  the  readers  and  these  accounts  there  is 
something  common  to  each  other.  They  touch  the  man's  Hfe. 
In  the  poHtical  matters,  not  man  as  man,  but  man  as  a  member 
of  a  nation,  is  touched.  The  Hght  news  has  no  national  bound- 
ary ;  the  news  on  poHtics  has  it. 

A  few  years  ago  the  Figaro  of  Paris  exposed  the  bribery 
scandal,  in  which  the  then  War  Minister  Caillaux  was  involved, 
thereby  inflicting  a  crushing  blow  upon  the  Ministry.  This  news 
was  not  so  interesting  to  the  Japanese  as  to  the  French  people. 
One  day,  however,  when  Madame  Caillaux  was  reported  to  have 
shot  dead  M.  Calmette,  Editor  of  the  Figaro,  the  incident  at- 
tracted a  world-wide  interest. 

Only  sixty  years  have  elapsed  since  modern  journalism  made 
its  entry  into  Japan.  In  the  early  period,  it,  in  imitation  of 
British  journals,  laid  more  stress  upon  political  discussions.  A 
few  other  light  newspapers  were  scorned  down  as  "petty  sheets." 
Even  after  the  two  classes  of  news  were  combined  in  one,  this 
habit  of  scorning  the  light  news  has  persisted,  so  that  the  jour- 
nalists who  were  classed  as  "Nampa,"  light  news  writers,  received 
smaller  salaries  and  their  positions  ranked  lower.  The  only  con- 
solation they  got  was  that  their  stories  were  read  by  a  larger 
number  of  readers.  When  later  Japan  began  to  imitate  the 
American  journalism,  in  which  the  light  news  is  treated  more 
cordially,  it  began  to  occupy  a  very  important  position  in  Japanese 
papers.  As  the  result  of  that,  the  sphere  of  the  light  news  has 
been  gradually  widened  and  even  the  heavy  materials  have  come 
to  be  treated  by  the  "light"  writers  in  the  style  of  light  news. 
The  distinction  between  heavy  and  light  was  formerly  that  of 
the  subjects  treated,  but  now  it  is  that  of  the  manner  of  treatment 

Philosophically  speaking,  all  the  efforts  of  man  are  to  in- 
terpret man.  Philosophy,  science,  religion,  literature,  arts  and 
newspapers  are  nothing  but  efforts  to  interpret  man  from  various 
angles;  only  the  former  from  the  normal  course  of  things,  while 
the  latter  rather  from  departures  from  it.  Humdrum  routine  will 
not  do  for  newspapers,  nor  will  monotony  of  regularity.  Though 
there  is  that  difference,  both  efforts  are  alike  for  explanation  of 
the  human  life.  It  is  therefore  needless  to  say  that  the  stories 
relating  to  life  most  strongly  appeal  to  the  public  and  have  the 
most  of  news  value. 


112       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

I  admit  that  there  are  several  other  bases  of  news  value  than 
logic.  Sociology  is  one ;  psychology  another.  That  I  have  chosen 
logic  does  not  imply  that  logic  is  the  sole  factor  of  judging  news 
value.  From  this  logical  point  of  view  the  long-talked-of  def- 
inition of  the  word  "news"  in  a  broad  sense  can  be  given  in  a 
simple  way.  News  can  be  said  to  be  anything  that  the  newspaper 
prints  with  the  view  of  utilizing  its  daily  publication,  regular  rep- 
etition, wide  and  quick  circulation  and  the  reading  habit  on  the 
part  of  the  reader.  The  more  these  characteristics  of  newspaper 
are  utilized,  the  more  value  news  matter  acquires. 

I  conclude  this  paper  by  thanking  you  for  having  kindly  lis- 
tened to  my  bad  English,  bad  logic  and  bad  everything.  (Ap- 
plause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  A  high  standard  has  been  set  for  the 
discussions  by  the  three  papers  read  this  morning,  to  which  Mr. 
Sugimura,  an  excellent  journalist  himself,  has  contributed  a  most 
excellent  paper,  with  most  of  which  we  can  agree  except  the 
last  paragraph. 


MR.  NIEVA :  I  have  two  amendments  to  ofifer  to  the  Con- 
stitution and  I  would  like  to  deliver  them  to  the  secretary. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  They  will  be  referred  to  the  Committee 
on  Constitution,  of  which  Mr.  Sugimura  is  Chairman.  The 
Congress  will  take  a  recess  until  two  o'clock. 


THIRD    SESSION. 

MONDAY  AFTERNOON,  OCTOBER  17,  1921 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  two  o'clock,  p.  m.,  Presi- 
dent Williams  presiding. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  I  will  ask  the  secretary  to  read  some 
messages  received  since  this  morning's  session. 

THE  SECRETARY:  The  first  is  from  W.  T.  Brewster,  Gen- 
eral Manager,  Independent  Newspapers,  Ltd.,  Dublin,  as  follows: 

I  have  to  apologize  for  not  sooner  replying,  owing  to  absence  on 
business,  to  your  very  flattering  letter  of  August  20th,  notifying  me  of 
my  election  by  the  Executive  Committee  as  a  Vice-President  of  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World.  I  consider  the  election  a  very  great  compliment, 
not  so  much  to  myself  personally,  as  to  the  Irish  Newspaper  Society  with 
which  I  have  been  connected  as  Hon.  Secretary  since  its  inception  in 
1907  until  this  year  when  health  considerations  compelled  me  to  resign 
tliat  post,  but  I  am  still  connected  with  the  Executive,  and  I  thank  both 
you  and  your  Executive  for  that  compliment. 

Your  Executive  has  kept  the  Irish  Newspaper  Society  constantly  ad- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  113 

vised  as  to  organization  of  the  Congress,  and  you  must  not  attribute  our 
silence  to  any  lack  of  interest  in  the  enterprise,  but  rather  to  the  excep- 
tional state  of  public  aflFairs  in  this  country.  Last  year  we  were  well  rep- 
resented at  the  Press  Conference  in  Canada,  and  I  had  hoped  that  I  myself, 
or  some  other  of  our  members,  would  have  been  able  to  participate  in  your 
deliberations  at  Honolulu,  not  only  inherently  important  in  themselves,  but 
so  attractive,  also,  by  reason  of  all  the  delightful  surroundings  in  which 
your  Congress  will  be  held.  But  the  anxious  state  of  public  affairs  here 
render  it,  I  fear,  impossible  for  any  of  the  members  of  our  organization, 
all  of  whom  hold  responsible  positions  in  connection  with  the  principal 
newspapers  in  Ireland,  to  leave  this  country  at  present  for  so  long  a  period 
as  attendance  at  the  Congress  would  entail.  I  am  sure  the  activities  of  the 
Congress  will  have  an  exceedingly  valuable  and  far-reaching  effect  upon 
the  press  of  the  world,  and  I  regret  that  under  the  circumstances  to  which 
I  have  referred  all  I  can  do  is  to  thank  you,  Sir,  and  your  Executive  Com- 
mittee most  cordially  for  all  your  courtesy,  and  to  wish  the  Congress,  on 
my  own  behalf  and  on  that  of  my  confreres  of  the  Irish  Press,  most 
heartily  a  thoroughly  successful  and  enjoyable  gathering. 

I  have  also  communications  from  Percy  S.  Bullen,  President 
of  the  Association  of  Foreign  Press  Correspondents,  New  York ; 
E.  Lansing  Ray,  President  and  editor  St.  Louis  Globe-Dem- 
ocrat; Robert  Bell,  The  Lyttleton  Times  Company,  Christ- 
church,  N.  Z. ;  H.  F.  Harrington,  Chicago;  J.  D.  Graham,  Wolver- 
hampton, England;  A.  HodoroflF,  Russian  journalist,  Moscow. 
I  have  also  here  some  cable  messages  which  I  will  read : 

From  Quevedo,  Havana:  "Corresponding  to  the  invitation  received  by 
the  Graffic  Press  of  Cuba,  the  association  formed  by  the  weekly  reviews 
'Bohemia,'  'Mundial,'  'Muecas,'  and  'Elegancias'  is  sending  for  the  use  of 
that  Honorable  Congress  four  albums  by  certificate,  via  New  Orleans. 
With  best  wishes  for  the  success  of  the  Congress." 

From  W.  E.  Lewis,  The  New  York  Morning  Telegraph:  "Warmest 
wishes  for  a  successful  convention.  Your  purposes  should  meet  with  the 
approval  of  everybody." 

From  R.  N.  Vatchagandy,  owner  and  editor  Sanj  Vartaman:  "Con- 
gress is  epoch  making  event  in  world's  history.  Will  prove  blessing  to 
unite  different  nations.     Wish  heartfelt  success." 

From  Palavicini,  Mexico  City:  "As  editor  of  the  greatest  Mexican 
newspaper,  'El  Universal'  I  send  my  warm  greetings  to  the  Press  Con- 
gress of  the  World  wishing  that  the  work  done  be  of  real  benefit  to  tlie 
world's  press  and  to  humanity." 

From  Dr.  Svatek,  President  of  Syndicate  of  Czechoslovak  daily  news- 
papers :  "The  Syndicate  of  Czechoslovak  daily  newspapers  wishes  best  suc- 
cess to  your  Congress  and  regrets  its  inability  to  attend." 

Also  a  number  of  other  messages  of  congratulations  from : 

J.    Roland   Kay,   International   Advertising,   Chicago. 


114       The  Press  Congress  of  the  JVorld 

Sidney   Rentell,   editor,   Electricity,    London,   England. 

T.  Elmore  Lucy,  Red  Deer,  Alberta,  Canada. 

James  A.  Barr,  Sierra  Educational  News,  San  Francisco,  Cal.,  U.  S. 
A. 

Gerald  Gould,  associate  editor.   Daily  Herald,  London,   England. 

Will  H.  Mayes,  professor  of  journalism,  University  of  Texas,  Austin, 
Texas,  U.  S.  A. 

H.  H.  Kinyon,  associate  editor,  The  Trans-Pacific,  Tokyo,  Japan. 

Mrs.  R.  W.  Gough,  secretary,  Soutliern  California  Woman's  Press  Club, 
Los  Angeles,  Cal,  U.  S.  A. 

Elizabeth  Murray  Shepherd,  Washington,  D.  C. 

Joe  Alitchell  Chappie,  editor.  National  Magazine,  Boston,  Massachu- 
setts, U.  S.  A. 

Walter  B.  Pitkin,  professor  in  Pulitzer  School  of  Journalism,  Columbia 
University,  New  York. 

James    Schermerhorn,    publisher,    Times,    Detroit,    Michigan,    U.    S.    A. 

W.   G.   Conley,  manager,    Sydney   Morning   Herald,    Sydney,   Australia, 

Harvey  Ingham,  editor,  Des  Moines  Register,  Des  Moines,  Iowa,  U. 
S.  A. 

Jason  Rogers,  publisher,  New  York  Globe,  New  York,  U.   S.  A. 

Roy  G.  Watson,  president,     Houston  Post,     Houston,  Texas,  U.  S.  A. 

J.  A.  Muehling,  manager.  Union  Leader,  Manchester,  New  Hamp- 
shire, U.  S.  A. 

Ernest  L.  Peterson,  Leader,  Dickinson,  North  Dakota,  U.  S.  A. 

R.  L.  McKenney,  News,  Macon,  Georgia,  U.  S.  A. 

Miss  Caroline  Alden  Huling,  editor,  Social  Progress,  Chicago,  Illinois, 
U.  S.  A. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  I  have  here  a  parchment  bearing  the 
crest  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  tendering 
greetings  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World.  Unless  directed 
otherwise,  this  parchment  will  be  placed  in  the  Archives  of  the 
Congress  and  the  message  will  be  read  into  the  book  of  the 
Congress : 

The  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  By  resolution  of  its  Board 
of  Regents  at  a  meeting  held  September  22,  1921,  has  delegated  the  Honor- 
able Herbert  L.  Bridgman,  LL.  D.,  one  of  its  Regents,  to  tender  its  re- 
spectful greetings  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  in  session  at 
Honolulu  October  11-25,  1921,  and  assurance  of  its  earnest  hope  that  the 
deliberations  and  transactions  of  the  Congress  may  not  only  be  fruitful  of 
good  to  the  useful  and  honorable  calling  for  which  it  speaks  and  acts, 
but  may  promote  that  international  understanding  and  co-operation  which 
establish  and  guarantee  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  world. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  secretary  will  read  a  cable  message. 
THE    SECRETARY:   This   message    is    from    the    United 
Chamber  of  Commerce,  the  United  Educational  Association,  and 
the  United  Rankers  Associations  of  China : 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  115 

Pray  accept  our  hearty  congratulations  for  successful  holding  of  sec- 
ond sessions  and  our  appreciation  of  collective  eflforts  made  by  pressmen 
of  the  world  for  international  good-will.  May  we  have  the  honor  of  in- 
viting the  Congress  to  hold  the  next  sessions  in  China? 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  invitation  will  be  referred  to  the 
Executive  Committee  to  be  elected  by  the  Congress. 

We  come  now  to  the  afternoon  program.  The  first  speaker 
is  Mr.  W.  D.  Hornaday,  professor  of  journalism  in  the  School 
of  Journalism,  University  of  Texas.  I  have  pleasure  in  pre- 
senting Mr.  Hornaday. 

MR.  HORNADAY:  The  subject  of  my  paper  is  "Education 
for  journalism  in  the  United  States."  Now  you  will  understand 
of  course  that  in  treating  this  subject  I  cannot  go  beyond  the 
preliminary  stages  of  newspaper  work.  To  go  into  the  whole 
subject  after  one  is  in  the  actual  practice  of  journalism — what 
education  may  be  needed  then — would  be  too  big  a  subject  to 
deal  with  in  one  paper  and  does  not  in  my  mind  belong  to  this 
paper.  I  will  therefore  confine  myself  to  the  preliminary  stages 
of  newspaper  work. 

If  the  theory  held  today  by  some  editors  that  "a  newspaper 
reporter  is  born,  not  made,"  is  true,  there  is  little  need  of  a 
discussion  of  the  subject  of  what  part  education  should  play 
in  equipping  one  for  journalism.  Fortunately,  however,  the  mass 
of  evidence  is  against  this  old-time  theory.  Perhaps  the  men 
who  hold  to  the  view  that  the  newspaper  instinct — the  "nose  for 
news" — must  be  born  in  one  and  cannot  be  acquired,  really  mean 
that  one  cannot  attain  an  outstanding,  distinctive  position  as  a 
reporter  unless  possessed  of  this  natural  gift.  Certainly  the 
theory  could  not  be  applied  to  the  hundreds  of  mediocre,  un- 
trained reporters  who  are  employed  upon  the  newspapers  of  the 
United  States.  That  these  hundreds  of  young  men  and  women 
who  are  doing  the  bulk  of  the  chronicling  of  news  events  from 
day  to  day  would  be  rendering  better  and  higher  service  to  their 
newspapers  and  the  public  were  they  possessed  of  a  journalistic 
training  such  as  is  offered  by  schools  of  journalism  in  connection 
with  other  college  courses  of  a  cultural  nature,  there  can  be  no 
question. 

Schools  of  journalism  themselves  have  disproved  the  theory 
that  talent  for  newspaper  writing  and  interest  in  the  work  is  in- 
born talent.     It  mav  be  that  the  germ  must  first  be  in  the  stvident 


116       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

if  he  is  ever  to  attain  success  in  great  measure.  An  instructor 
of  journalism,  if  of  the  right  kind,  can  then  develop  this  germ, 
can  fire  the  spark  that  is  latent  in  the  student.  Instance  after 
instance  might  be  cited  of  students  who  were  disinterested  in 
journalism  when  they  entered  the  class  many  of  them  perhaps 
thinking  to  take  the  course  in  order  to  obtain  credit  or  because 
it  was  popular — and  soon  became  enthusiastic,  capable  students. 
They  had  learned  to  love  the  work  and  appreciate  its  vast  pos- 
sibilities, which  are  as  wide  as  the  world  and  all  that  it  holds. 
Success  has  come  to  many  such  students,  who  in  the  beginning 
seemed  hopeless.  But  they  would  have  failed  had  they  been  taken 
on  by  newspapers  as  "cub"  reporters  without  their  school  of 
journalism  training,  irrespective  of  how  many  other  college 
courses  they  may  have  had.  For  the  average  newspaper  is  far 
from  being  a  hot-house  designed  to  nurture  a  dormant  germ  of 
talent.  , 

In  considering  the  matter  of  journalistic  training  one  need  not 
go  beyond  the  making  of  reporters.  Editorial  writers  and  news- 
paper executives  are  drawn  chiefly  from  the  city  room.  Educa- 
tion primarily  directed  toward  qualifying  a  student  for  reportorial 
work  should  therefore  be  the  uppermost  purpose  of  schools  of 
journalism.  By  this  is  not  meant  that  a  variety  of  other  courses, 
including  editorial  writing,  should  not  be  given.  But  over  and 
above  all  of  these  should  be  the  instruction  in  newsgathering  and 
reporting.  With  the  proper  foundation  in  this  work  the  student 
will  be  equipped  for  such  further  advancement  as  his  demon- 
strated ability  may  justify  when  he  enters  into  the  active  prac- 
tice of  journalism.  No  longer  is  there  any  question  as  to  the  im- 
portant part  which  schools  of  journalism  are  destined  to  play 
in  the  development  of  journalism  along  ethical  and  more  or  less 
idealistic  lines  in  the  United  States.  That  this  new  influence  is 
already  being  beneficially  manifested  is  doubtless  true,  though 
as  yet  in  an  unconscious  way,  so  far  as  the  public  is  concerned. 
It  is  when  former  journalism  students  shall  have  risen  to  edito- 
rial and  executive  positions  from  the  rank  of  reporter,  which 
they  perhaps  now  occupy,  that  the  greater  benefits  of  their  col- 
lege training  shall  be  realized  by  the  public. 

Important  as  this  training  is,  however,  schools  of  journalism 
cannot  hope  to  be  successful  unless  their  courses  are  so  made  up 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  117 

and  the  instruction  so  practical  and  thorough  as  to  meet  the  de- 
mands of  managing  editors  upon  whom  usually  fall  the  responsi- 
bilities of  selecting  and  maintaining  the  editorial  staffs  of  their 
respective  newspapers  to  the  highest  possible  standing.  It  there- 
fore behooves  those  who  are  directing  the  work  of  these  train- 
ing schools  for  young  men  and  women  to  sound  and  know  the 
views  and  demands  of  the  newspaper  executives.  In  order  that 
he  may  know  and  teach  the  requirements  and  demands  of  man- 
aging editors  and  city  editors  the  instructor  of  journalism  should 
have  had  wide  practical  experience  in  newspaper  work.  Unless 
he  has  had  this  experience  it  is  difficult,  if  not  impossible,  for 
him  to  have  that  sympathy  for  and  interest  in  his  students  which 
counts  so  much  in  arousing  their  ambition  and  guiding  their  ef- 
forts. 

As  a  means  of  arriving  at  some  definite  conclusion  as  to  what 
is  being  done  by  the  colleges  and  universities  of  the  United  States 
in  training  students  for  journalism  I  sent  a  questionnaire  to  171 
of  these  institutions  that  are  offering  one  or  more  courses  in  this 
work.  This  list  of  colleges  and  universities  was  compiled  by 
Prof.  Nelson  A.  Crawford,  secretary  of  the  American  Associa- 
tion of  Teachers  of  Journalism  and  director  of  journalism  of 
the  Kansas  State  Agricultural  College.  The  questions  asked 
covered  a  wide  range  and  embraced  the  number  and  kind  of 
courses  offered ;  prerequisites ;  whether  or  not  the  school  of 
journalism  was  operated  as  a  separate  administrative  unit  or  in 
connection  with  some  other  branch  of  the  institution;  whether 
or  not  the  actual  practice  of  newsgathering  and  reporting  and 
editorial  writing  was  taught;  and  if  so  what  were  the  methods; 
were  practical  newspaper  men  employed  as  instructors  or  lec- 
turers ;  was  the  ethics  of  journalism  taught ;  what  percentage  of 
the  students  had  gone  into  practical  journalism;  what  was  the 
attitude  of  newspaper  editors  of  that  particular  territory  toward 
journalistic  trained  students  in  the  matter  of  giving  them  employ- 
ment; what  percentage  of  journalism  students  were  young  men 
and  what  percentage  young  women ;  what  were  the  number  reg- 
istered for  journalism  during  the  past  regular  session ;  when 
were  the  courses  established ;  how  many  former  students  were 
then  employed  in  practical  journalism. 

Replies  were  received  from  approximately  80  institutions.  Not 


118       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

only  all  but  one  of  what  might  be  termed  the  standardized  schools 
of  journalism  replied  to  these  questions,  but  in  most  instances 
the  heads  of  the  schools  added  interesting  comment  on  the  work 
which  is  being  done  under  their  supervision. 

Thus  it  may  be  said  that  practically  complete  data  on  the 
subject  of  what  the  schools  of  journalism  are  doing  in  the  matter 
of  training  young  men  and  women  for  that  profession  was  ob- 
tained. Those  schools  which  did  not  reply  to  the  questionnaire 
were  all  small  colleges  with  only  one  or  two  journalism  courses 
and  these  really  not  more  than  English  composition.  One  out- 
standing fact  was  brought  to  light  in  this  survey  of  the  educa- 
tional field  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  teaching  journalism,  and 
that  is  that  because  of  the  rapidly  growing  demand  for  instruc- 
tion in  newspaper  writing  a  great  number  of  colleges  and  uni- 
versities have  in  recent  years  established  what  is  termed  a  journal- 
ism course,  though  this  course  really  has  little  to  do  with  prac- 
tical journalism.  It  seems  to  have  been  put  in  merely  to  retain 
or  attract  students  and  is  of  little,  if  any,  real  benefit  so  far  as 
journalism  instruction  is  concerned.  In  most  cases  one  or  two 
so-called  journalism  courses  are  taught  by  professors  of  Eng- 
lish who  have  perhaps  had  no  practical  newspaper  experience,  and 
even  in  some  instances  seemingly  not  in  sympathy  with  news- 
paper work  as  it  is  carried  on  today  by  the  press  of  the  United 
States. 

In  only  eight  universities  of  those  which  made  returns  to  the 
questionnaire  has  journalism  become  so  well  recognized  as  to 
take  its  position  as  a  separate  division.  These  are  Columbia 
University,  University  of  the  State  of  Washington,  University 
of  Wisconsin,  University  of  Missouri,  University  of  Oregon, 
University  of  Montana,  University  of  Indiana  and  Marquette 
University.  In  all  other  cases  the  teaching  of  journalism  is  con- 
ducted in  connection  with  other  departments  and  schools  of  the 
respective  institutions.  Most  of  them  are  under  the  administra- 
tion of  the  department  of  English  or  the  department  of  arts  and 
science,  with  the  department  of  agriculture  and  agricultural  ed- 
ucation, the  college  of  commerce,  college  of  business  administra- 
tion and  college  of  education  following  in  consecutive  order. 

No  uniform  admission  requirements  exist  in  the  different 
schools.     Even  those  that  are  giving  almost  identical  journalism 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  119 

courses  differ  in  prerequisites.  Of  seventy  colleges  and  univer- 
sities giving  one  or  more  courses,  freshman  English  is  among 
the  prerequisites  for  thirty-seven ;  English  literature  for  three ; 
two  years  of  college  English  for  ten,  advanced  composition  work 
for  two ;  ability  to  use  typewriter  for  one ;  ability  to  read  French, 
one;  sophomore  standing,  eight;  junior  and  senior  standing  and 
instructor's  approval,  three ;  no  prerequisites,  three.  There  is 
a  wide  difference  in  the  arrangement  of  the  courses  of  the  dif- 
ferent larger  schools  of  journalism.  This  also  is  true  of  the  cur- 
ricula themselves. 

That  journalism  can  best  be  taught  by  practical  newspaper 
men  is  becoming  more  and  more  recognized  by  educators.  This 
is  shown  by  the  fact  that  such  men  are  rapidly  taking  the  places 
of  English  instructors  in  these  schools.  The  University  of 
Oklahoma  lays  stress  on  the  fact  that  it  employs  as  journalism 
instructors  only  persons  who  have  had  actual  newspaper  expe- 
rience. The  same  may  be  said  of  all  of  the  other  schools  where 
real  journalism  is  being  taught.  Besides  the  actual  classroom  and 
laboratory  instruction,  lectures  by  working  newspaper  men  are 
given  as  part  of  the  regular  courses  at  many  of  the  institutions. 
This  is  notably  true  of  the  Joseph  Medill  School  of  Journalism 
just  established  at  Northwestern  University,  Chicago.  Schools 
of  journalism  that  are  situated  in  or  adjacent  to  the  larger  cities 
occupy  an  especially  fortunate  position  in  this  respect.  They  are 
able  to  draw  upon  the  newspapers  almost  at  will  for  their  lec- 
turers. 

There  is  no  longer  room  for  doubt  as  to  the  important  po- 
sition which  schools  of  journalism  occupy  in  educational  work. 
As  proof  of  this  it  may  be  pointed  out  that  the  demand  of  news- 
papers for  young  men  and  women  trained  in  these  schools  is 
greater  than  the  supply.  This,  of  course,  applies  to  those  stu- 
dents who  obtained  their  instruction  in  recognized  practical 
schools  of  journalism.  The  University  of  Kentucky  reports  that 
all  of  its  journalism  graduates  have  entered  the  profession.  The 
same  is  true  of  the  University  of  Ohio.  The  University  of  Mis- 
souri reports  90  per  cent;  University  of  Arkansas,  75  per  cent, 
and  others  ranging  from  50  per  cent  to  70  per  cent. 

The  number  of  students  registered  last  year  in  the  schools  of 
journalism,  colleges  and  universities  ranged  from  6  to  375  each. 


120       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  largest  enrollment  for  the  last  regular  session  was  that  of 
Kansas  State  Agricultural  College,  375.  Next  were :  University 
of  Missouri,  365 ;  University  of  Kentucky,  351 ;  University  of 
Kansas,  318;  University  of  Washington,  269;  University  of 
Wisconsin,  237 ;  University  of  Indiana,  196 ;  University  of  Iowa, 
182  for  spring  quarter,  with  a  total  of  between  600  and  700  for 
the  year;  De  Pauw  University,  171;  University  of  Texas,  168; 
Columbia  University,  129.  Many  others  made  no  report  of  regis- 
tration figures. 

Practically  all  colleges  have  a  larger  percentage  of  young  men 
than  young  women  taking  journalism.  In  some  of  the  co-educa- 
tional institutions,  young  women  predominate,  but  in  all  of  the 
larger  schools  where  journalism  is  taught  as  a  vocation  instead 
of  a  course  in  the  department  of  English  the  men  outnumber  the 
women.  This  was  not  true,  however,  during  the  war  period. 
The  average  ratio  is  now  about  40  per  cent  women  and  60  per 
cent  men.  During  the  war  the  demand  for  women  newspaper 
reporters  and  workers  in  other  branches  of  the  profession  was 
greatly  increased.  Many  newspapers  almost  filled  their  city 
staffs  with  women  and  most  of  them  came  from  schools  of  jour- 
nalism. With  the  return  of  young  men  from  the  war  many  of 
these  women  employees  filtered  into  other  positions,  either  upon 
newspapers,  magazines  or  other  related  work.  The  interest  in 
journalism  on  the  part  of  women  is  very  noticeable.  Indications 
are  that  they  will  enter  in  increasing  numbers  into  the  news- 
paper profession.  This  fact,  in  connection  with  the  tendency  of 
women  to  select  journalism  as  a  college  course  of  cultural  trend 
accounts  for  the  relative  high  enrollment  of  women  in  these 
schools. 

Splendid  service  is  being  rendered  by  the  Woman's  National 
Journalistic  Register  of  Chicago  in  obtaining  employment  for 
women  who  have  received  their  training  for  newspaper  and  maga- 
zine work  in  schools  of  journalism.  The  Register  is  a  corpora- 
tion organized  on  a  non-profit  basis.  Its  manager  is  Miss  Ruby 
A.  Black,  who,  by  the  way,  is  a  graduate  of  the  University  of 
Texas  and  received  her  journalism  education  at  that  institution. 
She  is  also  instructor  in  journalism  in  the  University  of  Wis- 
consin. 

Right  here  something  should  be  said  about  the  necessity  of 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  121 

some  agency  being  established  for  obtaining  employment  for 
young  men  who  come  out  of  schools  of  journalism.  Not  that 
it  is  needed  just  at  this  time,  as  I  have  already  explained,  as  the 
demand  is  greater  than  the  supply,  but  in  the  future  with  the 
establishment  of  additional  schools  perhaps  there  will  come  the 
time  when  such  employment  agencies  could  render  great  service. 
That  has  been  mentioned  in  a  number  of  letters  which  I  have  re- 
ceived from  leading  managing  editors  all  over  the  country. 

Education  for  journalism  in  connection  with  colleges  and 
university  has  the  endorsement  of  newspaper  owners  and  ex- 
ecutives with  very  few  exceptions.  This  recognition  has  gone 
to  the  extent  of  the  endowment  of  schools  of  this  character  at 
Columbia  University  by  the  late  Joseph  Pulitzer  of  the  New 
York  World  and  St.  Louis  Post  Dispatch,  and  more  recently  by 
the  Chicago  Tribune  as  a  department  of  Northwestern  Univer- 
sity, to  be  known  as  the  Joseph  Medill  School  of  Journalism,  es- 
tablished as  a  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Joseph  Medill,  founder 
of  that  newspaper.  The  School  of  Journalism  at  the  University 
of  Missouri  has  been  equipped  with  a  modern  newspaper  build- 
ing and  plant  as  a  gift  from  Ward  A.  NefT  of  Kansas  City,  Mo., 
as  a  memorial  to  his  father,  the  late  Jay  H.  Nefif.  By  the  terms 
of  the  will  of  the  late  W.  J.  Murphy,  owner  of  the  Minneapolis 
Tribune,  most  of  his  estate  is  to  go  to  the  establishment  of  a  school 
of  journalism  in  the  University  of  Minnesota  at  the  end  of  a 
twenty-year  period  from  his  death.  This  will  be  in  the  year 
1937.  It  is  expected  that  the  sum  which  will  be  available  for  the 
purpose  will  be  approximately  $1,000,000. 

One  of  the  obstacles  in  the  way  of  the  advancement  of  jour- 
nalism teaching  in  many  of  the  colleges  and  universities  is  the 
lack  of  financial  support  on  the  parts  of  the  legislatures  and  the 
administrative  officers  of  these  institutions.  Practical  journalism 
cannot  be  successfully  taught  without  adequate  facilities  for 
such  instruction.  These  should  include  if  possible  a  complete 
and  modern  daily  newspaper  plant  where  laboratory  work  in  the 
.  various  courses  may  be  given  the  students.  Another  thing  that 
has  been  in  the  way  of  making  journalism  education  a  part  of 
college  courses  is  the  hostile  attitude  toward  such  instruction 
and  toward  even  newspapers  themselves  by  some  professors  in 
the  cultural  and  classical  departments  of  these  institutions.     This 


122       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

lack  of  harmony  does  not  work  well  for  the  progress  of  the 
journalism  student.  Especially  is  this  true  where  he  is  taught 
on  the  one  hand  that  modern  journalism  stands  for  the  highest 
ideals  and  ethics  and  on  the  other  hand  by  an  instructor  in  another 
course  that  the  press  of  the  United  States  is  corrupt,  that  it 
is  owned  and  controlled  by  the  so-called  capitalistic  element,  that 
news  is  distorted,  perverted  and  suppressed,  that  journalism  is 
a  profession  which  decent,  self  respecting  men  can  not  follow 
without  violating  their  conscience,  and  that  the  press  is  in  other 
ways  an  institution  of  great  harm  to  the  welfare  of  the  people. 
This  false  idea  of  the  press  of  the  United  States  is  actually 
taught  or  at  least  insinuated  by  certain  required  reference  read- 
ing in  some  colleges  and  universities,  as  well  as  by  lectures  and 
discussions  in  some  courses. 

Several  causes  have  contributed  to  the  development  of  journal- 
ism teaching  in  colleges  and  universities  during  the  last  several 
years.  Since  1875  when  Prof.  D.  R.  McAnally,  an  editorial 
writer  on  the  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  established  a  course  of 
journalism  in  the  University  of  Missouri,  the  first  to  be  given 
in  any  educational  institution  in  the  United  States,  the  press  has 
undergone  an  evolution.  In  former  times  reporters  on  metropoli- 
tan newspapers  and  editors  of  country  press  usually  came  from 
the  composing  room.  In  the  days  of  hand-set  printing  it  was 
not  uncommon  for  a  young  man  to  be  graduated  from  typesetting 
jobs  into  that  of  reporter  or  local  editor,  as  the  case  might  be. 
Some  of  the  greatest  writers  on  the  New  York  Tribune  and 
New  York  Sun  during  the  time  of  Horace  Greeley  and  Charles 
A.  Dana  came  from  the  composing  room  of  those  papers.  This 
was  more  or  less  true  of  newspapers  all  over  the  country.  That 
also  was  the  period  of  personal  journalism,  not  only  in  the  edi- 
torial columns  but  in  news  writing  as  well. 

Even  a  cursory  investigation  of  the  newspapers  of  twenty 
to  forty  years  ago  will  reveal  that  much  irresponsible  and  loose 
reporting  was  indulged  in.  It  was  the  era  of  newspaper  fakes  on 
the  part  of  reporters  and  correspondents.  Such  a  thing  as  ethics 
in  journalism  was  not  given  thought  or  if  it  ever  did  come  into 
the  mind  of  the  editor  or  news  writer  received  little  considera- 
tion. Even  the  more  conservatively  inclined  newspapers  indulged 
more  or  less  in  this  orgy  of  sensationalism.     It  was  along  about 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  123 

this  time  that  the  supply  of  reporters  ceased  to  come  from  the 
printing  office.  This  was  due  chiefly  to  the  general  unionizing  of 
the  men  employed  in  the  mechanical  departments  and  the  more  or 
less  severing  of  the  former  close  relation  that  existed  between 
the  composing  room  and  the  editorial  department. 

There  began  to  grow  up  a  demand  for  college  trained  men 
for  reporters.  For  several  years  some  of  the  larger  newspapers 
drew  chiefly  upon  the  high  school  graduates  for  their  cub  re- 
porter supply.  It  was  less  than  twenty  years  ago  that  the  theory 
that  practical  journalism  could  be  taught  in  colleges  and  uni- 
versities began  to  be  tried  out,  attention  having  been  attracted  to 
this  method  by  the  success  which  Professor  ]\IcAnally  had  at- 
tained with  the  limited  facilities  at  hand  in  the  Universitv'  of 
Missouri.  In  1910  one  course  or  more  of  journalism  was  being 
taught  in  each  of  ten  institutions  of  higher  learning  in  the 
United  States,  and  during  the  eleven  years  since  then  journalism 
has  been  added  to  the  curricula  of  a  great  number  of  colleges 
and  universities  throughout  the  country,  and  also  is  being  taught 
to  a  limited  degree  in  a  large  number  of  high  schools. 

Even  the  most  casual  mention  of  education  for  journalism 
in  the  United  States  would  not  be  complete  without  giving  due 
credit  to  the  wonderful  work  which  our  worthy  President,  Dr. 
Walter  Williams,  dean  of  the  School  of  Journalism  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri,  has  done  along  this  line.  Not  only  is  Dean 
Williams  the  father  of  American  schools  of  journalism,  but  his 
advanced  and  well  conceived  methods  of  teaching  journalism  have 
spread  to  distant  countries  of  the  world. 

In  the  beginning  of  journalism  teaching  the  practicability  of 
such  training  was  ridiculed  by  most  of  the  old  time  newspaper 
men.  Even  the  word  journaHsm  was  a  joke  to  those  self-made 
but  none  the  less  efficient  workers  of  the  press.  To  their  minds 
a  self-styled  journalist  was  in  the  same  category  as  a  self-styled 
poet.  To  anyone  who  has  been  much  around  newspaper  offices 
no  further  explanation  of  the  old-time  attitude  of  members  of 
the  editorial  staff  toward  "journalists"  is  necessary.  Even  college 
graduates  had  less  chance  of  being  employed  as  cub  reporters  than 
boys  who  came  in  directly  off  the  street.  Gradually,  however, 
there  has  been  brought  about  a  great  change  in  this  attitude  of 
the  employing  class  of  newspaper  executives.     Daily  newspapers 


124       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

and  country  weeklies  with  very  few  exceptions  now  give  pref- 
erence to  former  students  of  journalism. 

As  a  means  of  sounding  the  views  of  the  daily  press  on  schools 
of  journalism  and  the  training  of  young  men  and  women  for 
practical  newspaper  work  I  recently  wrote  letters  to  approximate- 
ly 100  editors  and  managing  editors  of  the  leading  newspapers 
of  the  United  States,  asking  especially  what  kind  of  education 
best  fits  one  for  journalism. 

Taken  as  a  class  managing  editors  of  daily  newspapers  are 
perhaps  best  qualified  to  speak  with  authority  on  the  subject  of 
educational  fitness  of  reporters.  Replies  were  received  to  most 
of  these  letters.  Due  to  the  vacation  season,  some  of  the  news- 
paper executives  were  away  and  no  answer  came  from  them.  In 
many  respects  it  is  a  remarkable  collection  of  letters.  They  af- 
ford, on  the  whole,  a  most  interesting  group  study  of  journalism 
so  far  as  standards  and  demands  of  editors  and  managing  editors 
of  newspapers  are  concerned.  While  there  is  a  wide  variety  of 
views  held  by  the  managing  editors  as  to  educational  essentials 
of  reporters  there  is  almost  a  unanimity  of  opinion  on  their  part 
as  to  the  important  place  which  schools  of  journalism  are  today 
filling  and  the  great  benefit  that  may  come  from  this  source  in 
the  future  in  the  matter  of  meeting  the  requirements  and  help- 
ing to  improve  the  standards  of  the  press. 

It  is  plain  that  so  far  as  managing  editors  are  concerned  edu- 
cation for  journalism  has  at  least  received  general  favorable 
recognition.  It  would  seem,  however,  that  there  is  still  much  to 
be  done  in  the  way  of  improving  journalism  teaching  in  order 
to  fill  to  the  necessary  degree  the  real  requirements  of  the  press. 
In  several  instances  journalism  instructors,  especially  of  the 
smaller  colleges,  in  voluntary  comment  in  answer  to  the  question- 
aire  that  I  sent  them,  say  that  a  large  number  of  their  students 
take  journalism  because  they  find  it  an  interesting  course  but 
they  do  not  expect  to  enter  upon  newspaper  work  in  any  capac- 
ity. Other  students  expect  to  use  it  as  a  stepping  stone  to  some 
other  profession  or  business.  It  should  not  be  difficult  for  the 
instructor  to  awaken  an  intense  interest  in  practical  journalism 
on  the  part  of  the  student,  irrespective  of  how  indifferent  the 
student  may  be  in  the  beginning  of  the  course.  This  is  particular- 
ly tme  of  newsgathering  and  reporting.    If,  however,  it  is  found 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  125 

that  the  student's  interest  cannot  be  aroused  in  the  subject  a  way 
is  at  hand  to  release  him  from  the  pursuit  of  that  branch  of 
study.  To  my  mind  students  who  may  be  taking  journaHsm  with 
no  idea  of  making  it  their  Hfe  vocation  should  be  discouraged 
from  continuing  the  study.  It  has  been  said  that  instruction  in 
journalism  is  very  useful  in  all  walks  of  life  and  will  enable 
those  in  certain  businesses  and  professions  to  multiply  their  use- 
fulness many  times.  This  is  doubtless  true,  but  if  one  is  suffi- 
ciently interested  in  journalism  to  make  it  useful  to  him  in 
another  business  or  profession  he  would  be  unlikely  to  forsake 
newspaper  work  for  something  else,  except  for  an  advancement 
into  literature.  Complaint  is  made  by  some  managing  editors  that 
not  infrequently  young  men  and  women  come  to  them  from 
schools  of  journalism  seeking  positions  with  too  high  an  expecta- 
tion of  what  they  should  receive  in  the  way  of  employment.  Here 
is  where  the  instructor  can  be  of  great  service  to  the  student.  It 
should  not  be  held  out  to  the  student  that  he  is  a  finished  product 
when  he  leaves  the  school.  He  should  be  impressed  with  the  fact 
that  he  can  hope  for  little  more  consideration  than  the  average 
cub  reporter  when  he  takes  his  first  position  and  that  his  salary 
will  be  comparatively  small  in  the  beginning,  and  not  overly  large 
at  any  future  time.  Many  young  men  and  women  who  are 
splendidly  equipped  for  newspaper  work  do  not  enter  the  pro- 
fession or  vocation  because  of  the  low  salaries  paid.  On  this 
subject  the  head  of  the  School  of  Journalism  of  the  University 
of  Louisiana  writes : 

"Until  the  owners  and  managers  of  newspapers  lay  more 
stress  on  clear,  concise  and  accurate  reporting  of  news  and  are 
willing  to  pay  adequately  for  the  services  of  young  men  and 
women  who  are  good  reporters,  we  do  not  expect  to  see  a  very 
large  percentage  of  our  students  go  in  for  practical  newspaper 
work." 

It  is  significant,  too,  perhaps,  that  some  of  the  managing  edi- 
tors express  similar  views  on  the  subject  of  better  pay  for  re- 
porters. Doubtless  all  of  them  hold  this  same  opinion.  Until 
higher  salaries  are  paid  the  working  newspaper  men  and  the 
space  rates  for  the  free  lance  and  special  writers  are  increased  it 
cannot  be  hoped  that  there  will  be  brought  into  the  journalism 
profession  the  great  number  of  high  class  educated  men  and 


126      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

women  who  are  so  necessary  for  its  future  development.  Tak- 
ing newspapers  of  the  United  States  as  a  class,  their  editorial 
executives  and  desk-men  also  are  underpaid.  Recognition  is  not 
accorded  by  the  owners  of  these  properties  to  the  fact  that  it  is 
upon  the  news  columns,  and  to  a  lesser  degree  perhaps  the  edi- 
torial columns  of  newspapers,  that  the  circulation,  which  in  turn 
is  the  basis  for  advertising  patronage,  depends.  At  least  there  is 
no  reflection  of  such  recognition  in  the  compensation  of  those 
who  are  employed  upon  the  editorial  staffs. 

Summed  up,  it  may  be  suggested  that  schools  of  journalism  in 
order  to  better  equip  their  students  for  practical  newspaper  writ- 
ing should  intensify  the  training  to  the  greatest  possible  extent, 
particularly  in  the  newsgathering  and  reporting  course,  that  labo- 
ratory practice  along  the  lines  of  actual  newspaper  making  should 
be  followed,  that  the  field  of  newsgathering  should,  if  possible, 
be  extended  beyond  the  campus,  that  news  writing  should  be  of 
the  widest  possible  scope,  both  as  to  subjects  and  publication.  If 
so  situated  as  to  make  it  possible  the  student  should  receive  and 
fill  assignments  upon  daily  newspapers  other  than  the  college 
publication.  Summer  work  with  college  credit  upon  daily  news- 
papers is  not  only  possible  for  journalism  students,  but  is  being 
actually  done  as  a  regular  course  by  one  or  more  schools  of 
journalism.  Students  should  be  encouraged  to  write  news  and 
feature  stories  for  outside  newspapers.  It  often  happens  that  pay 
derived  from  this  source  serves  as  a  great  encouragement  to  the 
student.  Constructive  criticism  of  the  work  done  by  his  students 
should  be  given  at  all  times  by  the  instructor.  It  is  not  necessary 
to  dwell  upon  the  fact  that  practically  all  schools  of  journalism 
are  laying  great  stress  on  newspaper  ethics  in  the  instruction  of 
students.  In  some  instances  this  is  given  as  a  separate  course.  Ac- 
curacy in  the  collection  of  news  and  the  writing  of  same  is  the 
principal  slogan  of  these  schools. 

Adaptation  and  loyalty  are  two  essential  qualities  that  should 
be  inculcated  in  the  minds  of  students  of  journalism.  Aptitude  in 
adjusting  oneself  to  the  news  policies  and  methods  of  different 
newspapers  upon  which  one  may  be  employed,  either  in  a  salaried 
position  or  as  paid  contributor  is  necessary.  Newspapers  even 
differ  widely  in  their  selection  and  handling  of  feature  stories 
and  it  is  here  that  the  advantage  of  being  able  to  adjust  oneself 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  127 

to  varied  conditions  is  helpful.  Many  newspapers  are  lacking  in 
loyalty  of  their  reporters  and  other  members  of  their  editorial 
staffs.  No  newspaper  can  be  entirely  successful  that  does  not 
enjoy  the  wholehearted  loyalty  of  its  editorial  staff.  The  moment 
a  reporter  feels  disloyal  to  the  newspaper  upon  which  he  is  em- 
ployed he  should  seek  a  position  elsewhere.  He  is  a  broken'link 
in  the  chain  of  success  of  both  the  newspaper  and  himself. 

Most  managing  editors  and  city  editors  agree  on  the  sugges- 
tion that  it  is  easier  to  train  a  reporter  if  taken  on  the  staff  at 
the  more  impressionable  age  of  seventeen  to  nineteen  years  or 
at  the  time  of  finishing  high  school  than  if  employed  at  a  more 
advanced  age.  This  being  true  the  question  arises  whether  it 
would  not  be  well  for  schools  of  journalism  to  lower  their  pre- 
requisites so  as  to  admit  students  in  certain  courses  in  their 
freshman  year.  The  only  thing  perhaps  that  would  stand  in  the 
way  of  this  would  be  the  lack  of  training  in  English  on  the  part  of 
the  student.  By  taking  English  along  with  his  first  and  second 
year  in  journalism  the  student,  however,  would  perhaps  be  able 
to  make  satisfactory  progress  in  journalism ;  more  so,  I  believe, 
than  is  the  case  with  the  student  who  does  not  begin  journalism 
until  his  junior  year. 

One  of  the  greatest  needs  of  newspaper  men  as  a  class  is  a 
wider  knowledge  of  affairs  at  home  and  abroad.  As  a  foundation 
for  journalistic  work  a  classical  education  is  of  much  value.  It 
is  taken  for  granted  that  the  journalist  should  know  English  well. 
It  is  pointed  out  by  some  managing  editors  that  mathematics  is  a 
great  balancer.  Other  managing  editors  suggest  that  a  knowl- 
edge of  Greek  and  Roman  mythology,  medieval  history,  economics 
and  foreign  trade  should  by  all  means  be  a  part  of  the  college 
study  of  a  student  of  journalism.  In  these  times  a  knowledge  of 
world  geography  and  politics  is  absolutely  necessary.  Informa- 
tion obtained  through  study  of  or  personal  contact  with  the  re- 
sources, commerce  and  industries  of  his  state,  country  and  the 
world  should  be  eternally  sought  both  in  and  out  of  college  by  the 
newspaper  man  who  hopes  to  obtain  advancement  and  find  real 
pleasure  in  his  work. 

Now  just  a  word  about  those  letters  I  have  received  from 
managing  editors :  An  analysis  of  the  letters  from  newspaper 
executives  who  have  to  do  with  the  work  of  reporters  shows  that 


128       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

they  are,  with  very  few  exceptions,  in  hearty  accord  with  the 
purposes  and  results  that  are  sought  to  be  accompHshed  by  schools 
of  journalism.  It  is  perhaps  significant  that  of  the  fifty  or  more 
editors  and  managing  editors  who  replied  to  my  questionnaire  only 
three  or  four  expressed  opinions  that  might  be  interpreted  as 
opposed  to  training  men  and  women  for  journalism  outside  of 
newspaper  offices.  It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that 
the  newspapers  upon  which  these  three  or  four  executives  are  em- 
ployed are  situated  remote  from  standardized  schools  of  journal- 
ism. Running  through  almost  all  of  the  replies  is  the  sentiment 
that  the  work  which  the  schools  of  journalism  are  doing  is  of 
a  nature  that  will  bring  great  benefit  to  the  newspapers  of  the 
country  in  the  way  of  improving  their  standards.  Many  valuable 
suggestions  are  contained  in  these  letters  from  the  leading  news- 
paper men  of  the  country.  They  are  suggestions  that  are  too 
numerous  and  lengthy  to  be  embraced  in  the  main  body  of  this 
paper,  but  the  letters  are  well  worth  while  being  preserved  and 
studied  by  all  persons  who  may  be  interested  in  meeting  and 
solving  the  problems  of  journalism  training. 
The  following  are  the  letters  referred  to : 

H.  F.  Higgins,  Managing  Editor  Tacoma  Daily  Ledger,  Tacoma,  Wash- 
ington— "  'A  day's  work  is  the  best  recommendation.'  Such  was  the  ex- 
pression of  a  managing  editor  when  he  was  asked  for  a  position  on  his 
reportorial  staff  and  such  seems  to  be  the  general  attitude  of  newspaper 
editorial  executives  toward  journalistic  education. 

"Results,  of  course,  are  what  are  sought  in  newspaper  work  as  well  as 
every  other  line  of  human  endeavor.  The  editorial  executive  in  whose 
hands  is  the  hiring  of  his  reporters  and  sub-editors  primarily  is  not  con- 
cerned with  whether  the  applicant  is  a  college  graduate  or  not.  Results 
are  what  he  is  after. 

"However,  a  newspaper  which  has  to  keep  changing  its  reporters  in 
the  search  for  a  man  or  woman  who  can  'furnish  the  goods'  is  losing 
valuable  time  and  opportunities  for  stories. 

"We  have  found  that  a  graduate  of  a  school  of  journalism  is  not  a 
'finished'  newspaper  man,  but  ordinarily  such  a  graduate  is  one  hundred 
per  cent,  better  than  the  average  applicant  for  a  cub's  position.  The  grad- 
uate knows  the  rudimenP;  of  writing  a  news  story,  and,  perhaps  of  more 
importance,  knows  news  when  he  sees  it. 

"We  have  four  or  five  graduates  of  schools  of  journalism  on  the  staff 
of  the  Ledger,  and  one  who  attended  but  did  not  graduate.  Two  of  these 
are  in  responsible  executive  positions,  namely,  city  editor  and  telegraph 
editor.  The  other  three  are  reporters,  and  to  prove  that  being  a  graduate 
of  a  school  of  journalism  is  not  an  infallible  recommendation  of  efficiency 


128      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

they  are,  with  very  few  exceptions,  in  hearty  accord  with  the 
purposes  and  results  that  are  sought  to  be  accompHshed  by  schools 
of  journalism.  It  is  perhaps  significant  that  of  the  fifty  or  more 
editors  and  managing  editors  who  replied  to  my  questionnaire  only 
three  or  four  expressed  opinions  that  might  be  interpreted  as 
opposed  to  training  men  and  women  for  journalism  outside  of 
newspaper  offices.  It  is  interesting  to  note  in  this  connection  that 
the  newspapers  upon  which  these  three  or  four  executives  are  em- 
ployed are  situated  remote  from  standardized  schools  of  journal- 
ism. Running  through  almost  all  of  the  replies  is  the  sentiment 
that  the  work  which  the  schools  of  journalism  are  doing  is  of 
a  nature  that  will  bring  great  benefit  to  the  newspapers  of  the 
country  in  the  way  of  improving  their  standards.  Many  valuable 
suggestions  are  contained  in  these  letters  from  the  leading  news- 
paper men  of  the  country.  They  are  suggestions  that  are  too 
numerous  and  lengthy  to  be  embraced  in  the  main  body  of  this 
paper,  but  the  letters  are  well  worth  while  being  preserved  and 
studied  by  all  persons  who  may  be  interested  in  meeting  and 
solving  the  problems  of  journalism  training. 
The  following  are  the  letters  referred  to : 

H.  F.  Higgins,  Managing  Editor  Tacoma  Daily  Ledger,  Tacoma,  Wash- 
ington— "  'A  day's  work  is  the  best  recommendation.'  Such  was  the  ex- 
pression of  a  managing  editor  when  he  was  asked  for  a  position  on  his 
reportorial  stafif  and  such  seems  to  be  the  general  attitude  of  newspaper 
editorial  executives  toward  journalistic  education. 

"Results,  of  course,  are  what  are  sought  in  newspaper  work  as  well  as 
every  other  line  of  human  endeavor.  The  editorial  executive  in  whose 
hands  is  the  hiring  of  his  reporters  and  sub-editors  primarily  is  not  con- 
cerned with  whether  the  applicant  is  a  college  graduate  or  not.  Results 
are  what  he  is  after. 

"However,  a  newspaper  which  has  to  keep  changing  its  reporters  in 
the  search  for  a  man  or  woman  who  can  'furnish  the  goods'  is  losing 
valuable  time  and  opportunities  for  stories. 

"We  have  found  that  a  graduate  of  a  school  of  journalism  is  not  a 
'finished'  newspaper  man,  but  ordinarily  such  a  graduate  is  one  hundred 
per  cent,  better  than  the  average  applicant  for  a  cub's  position.  The  grad- 
uate knows  the  rudiments  of  writing  a  news  story,  and,  perhaps  of  more 
importance,  knows  news  when  he  sees  it. 

"We  have  four  or  five  graduates  of  schools  of  journalism  on  the  staff 
of  the  Ledger,  and  one  who  attended  but  did  not  graduate.  Two  of  these 
are  in  responsible  executive  positions,  namely,  city  editor  and  telegraph 
editor.  The  other  three  are  reporters,  and  to  prove  that  being  a  graduate 
of  a  school  of  journalism  is  not  an  infallible  recommendation  of  efficiency 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  129 

the  reporter  who  did  not  graduate  is  a  better  man  than  the  other  even 
though  he  had  never  seen  the  inside  of  a  school  of  journahsm. 

"Schools  of  journalism  assuredly  are  needed.  They  will  not  make 
newspaper  men  if  the  urge  is  not  in  the  individual,  but  if  there  is  any 
talent,  they  will  bring  it  out  and  intensify  it  and  on  the  other  hand,  dis- 
courage those  lacking  in  talent,  which  is  in  itself  no  small  argument  in 
their  favor. 

"If  an  applicant  for  a  position  on  the  Ledger  can  prove  that  he  'has 
the  goods'  he  is  hired  regardless  of  his  journalistic  school  training.  We 
have  found,  however,  that  the  school-trained  man  has  the  'jump'  on  the 
man  without  such  training.  The  man  who  has  a  general  college  training 
is  likewise  usually  better  in  the  long  run  than  one  who  can  offer  only  high 
school  or  grammar  school  training.  But  this  conclusion  is  not  hard  and  fast, 
and  we  vary  from  it  occasionally." 


C.  P.  J.  Mooney,  editor  Commercial  Appeal,  Memphis,  Tennessee — 
"Briefly,  I  do  not  care  much  for  schools  of  journalism  when  they  hold  out 
too  many  inducements.  I  think  a  department  of  journalism  in  a  university 
is  all  right,  but  this  department  should  be  one  of  history,  economics  and 
a  study  of  government. 

"My  idea  is  that  a  newspaper  man  has  a  tremendous  advantage  if  first 
he  has  had  a  classical  education.  By  classical  I  mean  a  thorough  drilling 
in  Latin  and  Greek,  classic  mythology,  Roman  and  Greek  histories.  Along 
with  this  should  go  a  close  study  of  English,  some  mathematics.  Mathe- 
matics is  a  great  balancer.  In  a  university  a  young  man  should  specialize 
in  history,  economics  and  a  lot  of  general  reading.  It  is  a  good  thing  for 
every  newspaper  man  to  be  a  specialist  in  one  particular  branch  of  educa- 
tion. It  might  be  art,  political  economy  or  again  it  might  be  a  close  study 
of  business,  but  every  boy  engaged  in  newspaper  work  should  know  the 
history  of  the  United  States." 


W.  C.  Jarnagin,  managing  editor  Des  Moines  Capital,  Des  Moines, 
Iowa — "The  future  of  the  School  of  Journalism  so  far  as  training  news- 
paper writers  is  concerned  is  more  or  less  in  doubt  unless  some  means  is 
provided  of  placing  the  graduates  on  newspaper  staffs. 

"The  Des  Moines  Capital,  of  which  I  have  been  managing  editor  for 
some  fifteen  years,  has  employed  a  great  many  reporters  and  editorial 
writers,  but  so  far  as  I  know,  only  three  of  them  ever  attended  a  school 
of  journalism,  and  only  one  ever  graduated  from  a  journalistic  course. 

"I  might  state  that  this  graduate  proved  to  be  a  very  efficient  news- 
paper woman,  and  held  down  a  run  of  considerable  importance  during  tlie 
war.  Like  most  other  feminine  newspaper  workers,  she  married  shortly 
after  she  had  joined  our  staff  and  went  into  another  and  perhaps  more  inter- 
esting field. 

"I  have  observed  in  my  own  family  that  a  journalistic  education  is  of 
tremendous  advantage  to  a  young  man  or  woman  who  expects  to  embark  in 
the  profession, 
9 


130      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

"My  son  has  just  completed  a  course  in  journalism  at  West  High  school 
in  Des  Moines,  and  I  know  it  has  been  of  tremendous  practical  advantage 
to  him. 

"It  seems  to  me  that  even  though  the  journalistic  student  has  no  definite 
opening  in  prospect,  the  course  of  training  he  or  she  receives  will  still  be 
of  immense  benefit.  Certainly  one  cannot  acquire  too  much  English  and 
history  in  going  through  college. 

"If  a  graduate  is  unable  to  secure  a  position  on  a  newspaper  staff  the 
short  story  field  is  never  crowded,  and  I  am  certain  that  the  education  ac- 
quired would  be  of  great  assistance  along  this  line. 

"I  believe  the  school  of  journalism  has  a  place  to  fill,  and  I  am  in- 
clined to  think  that  it  will  develop  a  better  grade  of  newsgatherers  and 
writers  in  the  future." 


John  L.  Travis,  managing  editor  The  Seattle  Times,  Seattle,  Washing- 
ton— "We  have  had  some  experience  with  graduates  of  the  School  of 
Journalism  of  the  University  of  Washington.  Some  of  these  graduates  have 
done  very  good  work  after  learning  something  of  the  newspaper  business 
under  the  direction  of  our  city  editor. 

"As  far  as  I  can  see,  the  school  of  journalism  is  a  course  in  English 
composition  and  it  depends  on  the  instructors  whether  the  student  receives 
any  practical  benefit. 

"It  is  not  given  to  every  newspaper  man  to  be  able  to  convey  the  in- 
formation he  possesses  to  the  members  of  his  staff.  When  an  institution 
succeeds  in  getting  a  real  newspaper  man  who  is  also  a  real  teacher,  they 
have  a  combination  that  they  want  to  hang  on  to." 


Walter  M.  Oestreicher,  managing  editor  Brooklyn  Daily  Times,  Brook- 
lyn, New  York — "So  far  as  I  can  judge  from  practical  experience,  I  do 
not  believe  that  schools  of  journalism  have  heightened  the  standard  of  our 
young  workers  in  the  field.  Too  often,  they  bring  settled  opinions,  based 
upon  mere  theories,  to  their  practical  newspaper  work,  and  it  is  exceed- 
ingly difficult  to  direct  their  minds  into  the  right  channels.  This  does  not 
mean  that  I  deprecate  such  an  education,  but  I  do  think  that,  wherever  and 
whenever  it  is  given,  it  should  be  imparted  with  the  reservation  that  it  is 
merely  tentative  and  subject  to  many  changes. 

"So  far  as  a  college  education  goes,  it  is,  of  course,  of  great  help  to 
young  journalists  who  aspire  to  the  higher  positions,  and  yet  the  fact  re- 
mains that  the  very  best  young  men  with  whom  I  have  had  to  deal  came 
fresh  from  the  high  schools. 

"Some  of  the  reasons  why  there  seems  to  be  a  lack  of  quality  among 
the  young  newspaper  workers  of  today  are :  the  low  standard  set  by  the 
city  editors;  the  levelling  influences  of  press  associations;  the  unwillingness 
of  minor  executives  to  rid  themselves  of  merely  fair  workers  to  make  room 
for  good  ones;  and  lack  of  financial  encouragement.  The  best  young  minds 
needed  in  the  newspaper  business  are  being  attracted  by  other  and  more 
remunerative  lines  of  endeavor. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  131 

"The  first  duty  of  a  newspaper  manager,  therefore,  is  to  employ  high 
class,  highly  educated  and  very  fastidious  executives.  They  will  make  the 
right  selection  from  the  obtainable  material  irrespective  of  the  individual's 
accidental  education,  and  with  a  clear  eye  toward  his  innate  ability.'' 


Randolph  Marshall,  managing  editor  Public  Ledger,  Philadelphia,  Penn- 
sylvania— "The  essential  qualifications  for  a  reporter  are:  First,  the  ability 
to  get  facts  and  understand  them.  Second,  the  ability  to  write  with  such 
clarity  and  to  invest  the  report  with  such  interest  as  to  get  circulation  for 
his  product.  The  newspaper  that  is  habitually  inaccurate  may  flourish  for 
a  time,  and  a  newspaper  that  is  dull  may  struggle  along,  but  a  newspaper 
that  is  at  once  dull  and  inaccurate  is  stillborn  every  day. 

"Regarding  the  getting  and  assimilation  of  news.  No  human  being  is  the 
possessor  of  all  human  knowledge,  but  the  'general  reporter'  is  called  upon 
to  write  of  every  phase  of  human  activity.  Consequently,  he  must  depend 
largely  upon  specialists  for  his  data.  The  clearer  the  reporter's  under- 
standing of  the  information  supplied  to  him  by  the  specialist,  the  more  likeli- 
hood of  a  trustworthy  and  informative  article.  The  problem  is,  how  to 
have  reporters  equipped  so  that  they  will  be  intelligent  receivers  of  specialized 
information  and  at  the  same  time  be  in  a  better  mental  position  to  appraise 
imposters  who  pretend  to  knowledge  that  they  do  not  have. 

"It  is  true  that  a  reporter  may  become  a  specialist  in  one  or  two  sub- 
jects, but  a  man  on  general  work  ordinarily  cannot  confine  his  work  to 
matters  on  which  he  may  be  an  authority. 

"Consequently  it  is  necessary  for  a  good  reporter  to  have  a  vast  amount 
of  general  information  on  a  variety  of  subjects.  His  own  specializations 
may  be  disregarded  in  the  phase  of  his  work  tliat  we  now  are  considering. 
They  are  determined  by  his  inclinations,  opportunity  and  aptitude  after  he 
has  had  experience  in  actual  newspaper  work. 

"The  first  necessity  in  the  educational  preparation  is  a  background  of 
English  and  American  history  and  literature,  with  a  reasonable  knowl- 
edge of  ancient  history  and  the  Greek  and  Roman  mythologies.  That  should 
be,  but  is  not,  the  common  possession  of  every  boy  who  has  gone  through 
the  sophomore  year.  Consequently,  in  any  student  course  preparatory  to 
newspaper  work  those  branches  should  be  emphasized. 

"Every  American  newspaper  man  should  know  the  history  of  tlie  Con- 
stitution and  its  text  by  heart. 

"Schools  of  journalism  have  a  field  of  usefulness.  But  I  believe  they 
do  not  take  the  most  practical  advantage  of  the  two  or  tliree  years  during 
which  they  can  claim  the  student.  They  should  minimize  the  instruction 
in  the  technical  part  of  newspaper  work,  and  devote  the  time  to  the  inten- 
sive study  of  a  great  variety  of  subjects — civil  government,  finance,  physics, 
the  drama,  painting,  music,  medicine,  church  and  military  organization, 
sociology,  etc.  I  am  naming  those  subjects  hastily,  as  merely  indicative  of 
my  thought. 

"The  immediate  objection  arises  that  such  a  course  of  study  necessarily 
would  be  superficial.    That  is  exactly  the  case.    But  I  am  proposing  to  meet 


132       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

a  newspaper  condition  in  which  I  see  no  prospect  of  change.  Flocks  of 
specialists  cannot  be  maintained  in  the  offices  to  treat  specially  of  every 
subject  that  arises.  And  in  fact,  that  arrangement  hardly  would  be  satis- 
factory. Few  are  the  specialists  who  write  from  the  popular  viewpoint. 
A  successful  reporter  must  have  a  quick  intelligence.  Equipped  with  a 
broad,  even  though  superficial,  understanding,  he  will  not  interrupt  Edison 
to  ask  the  difference  between  an  ohm  and  an  ampere  or  an  artist  to  get 
the  definition  of  genre.  He  can  guard  at  all  times  against  the  pitfalls  dug 
through  entire  ignorance.  A  little  knowledge  is  a  dangerous  thing  only 
when  its  possessor  proceeds  on  the  belief  that  he  has  a  great  deal.  Further, 
a  man  who  has  some  knowledge  of  a  subject,  if  of  the  type  we  are  con- 
sidering, is  inclined  to  extend  it  through  reading  the  technical  journals. 

"The  form  of  newspaper  composition  is  a  proper  but  minor  considera- 
tion for  schools  of  journalism.  For  the  rest  of  the  technical  part  of  the 
work  the  best  school  for  the  quickest  results  is  the  newspaper  office. 

"Regarding  the  ability  to  write.  There  are  newspaper  workers  who 
transcribe  their  notes  and  are  conscientious  and  particular  in  the  choice  of 
words  and  produce  nothing — not  even  that  Truth  on  which  they  are  given 
to  vaunting  themselves.  They  describe  an  event  as  impressive,  and  expect 
the  reader  to  take  their  word  that  such  it  is. 

"And  there  are  those  who  having  seen  or  heard,  or  having  had  described 
to  them,  an  event  or  a  mental  process  can  reconstruct  it  as  a  moving  picture 
on  the  silver  sheet  of  their  minds  and  with  simple  words  provide  a  medium 
by  which  the  reader  can  see  it  also.  Oh,  yes ;  a  mental  process  can  be 
visualized.     And  the  men  who  can  do  that  have  the  makings  of  reporters. 

"But  good  writing  calls  for  technical  skill.  Instructors  can  list  objec- 
tionable usage  of  words  and  in  many  ways  can  help  the  student  in  the 
art  of  writing.  But  I  call  to  mind  Stevenson's  story  of  how  he  gained  pro- 
ficiency through  the  laborious  days  of  transcribing  the  masters  literally. 
It  seems  like  a  dull  task,  and  perhaps  it  is,  but  I  can  offer  testimony  that 
I  have  seen  it  efficacious.  In  several  cases  I  have  tried  the  experiment.  My 
homely  tools  were  "Pickwick  Papers"  and  any  good  poem.  The  aspirant 
was  called  on  to  read  and  then  to  mentally  reconstruct  a  moving  picture 
of  what  he  had  read.  Then  he  copied  literally — capitalization,  punctuation, 
quotation  marks,  and  all — the  text  of  the  selection.  The  poems  were  read, 
aloud.  First,  for  enlargement  of  vocabulary;  second,  for  the  automatic 
correction  of  pronunciation,  and  third  for  the  refinement  of  manner  of 
speech.  The  results  were  beyond  my  expectation.  How  that  method  would 
operate  in  a  school  of  journalism  I  do  not  know.  The  facts  are  given  for 
what  they  are  worth." 


T.  J.  Dillon,  managing  editor  Minneapolis  Tribune,  Minneapolis,  Min- 
nesota— "It  is  a  fact  tliat  educational  standards  in  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
newspaper  business  in  the  United  States  are  not  high.  The  whole  tendency 
has  been,  and  to  a  very  great  extent  now  is,  toward  an  effort  to  get  facts 
in  the  shortest  time  possible  at  the  expense  of  clear  writing  and  the  de- 
velopment of  general  knowledge.    We  develop  excellent  amateur  detectives 


Proceedinss  of  the  Congress  133 

and  specialists  on  city  hall,  courts  and  business  news,  who  devote  all  their 
working  time  and  their  spare  time  to  these  specialties.  As  a  consequence 
they  have  a  very  limited  background  of  information  when  called  upon  to 
handle  matter  off  of  their  run. 

"Any  system  or  plan  which  would  liave  a  tendency  to  provide  the  news- 
paper profession  with  better  educated  men  must  have  the  hearty  approval 
of  every  publisher  and  editor.  Schools  of  journalism  will,  in  the  course 
of  time,  raise  the  standard  to  an  encouraging  degree.  As  far  as  their 
technical  training  is  concerned,  I  consider  it  valuable  chiefly  as  an  induce- 
ment for  the  young  man  ambitious  to  become  a  newspaper  man  to  secure 
a  general  education.  The  technique  of  the  business  can  be  taught  just  as 
effectively  in  the  newspaper  office,  but  no  newspaper  office  has  the  time  to 
give  its  employes  a  general  education." 


J.  Iv.  Dobell,  managing  editor  The  Butte  Miner,  Butte,  Montana — "In 
reply  to  your  favor  asking  for  an  expression  of  opinion  upon  journalistic 
education  in  the  United  States,  particularly  as  conducted  by  schools  of 
journalism,  will  say  that  my  experience  with  the  graduates  of  such  institu- 
tions has  been  exceptionally  satisfactory. 

"I  have  had  a  number  of  young  men  and  one  young  woman  who  re- 
ceived their  training  at  the  School  of  Journalism  connected  with  the  Uni- 
versity of  Montana,  and,  witliout  exception,  have  found  all  of  these  grad- 
uates well  grounded  in  the  business  and  thoroughly  capable,  so  much  so 
that  now  when  I  need  any  reporters,  I  invariably  apply  to  the  Montana 
school  to  find  out  if  they  can  send  me  any  of  their  young  men.  The  ad- 
vantage of  getting  these  school  journalists  is  that  they  appear  to  have  a 
very  high  moral  sense  of  duty  that  has  not  been  weakened  by  previous  prac- 
tical newspaper  experience.  What  I  mean  by  this  is  that  many  of  the  news 
writers  that  come  to  one  from  other  papers  I  have  found  have  not  the 
same  high  moral  standards  tliat  tliese  graduates  from  this  State's  School 
of  Journalism  possess.  It  is  only  fair  to  say  in  this  connection  tliat  Dean 
A.  L.  Stone  of  the  Montana  school  is  a  man  of  the  very  highest  character 
and  a  thoroughly  practical  newspaper  man.  The  result  is  that  he  is  turning 
out  finely  equipped  young  men  and  women. 

"It  is  my  opinion,  judging  from  this  Montana  school,  that  these  insti- 
tutions are  doing  good  work,  and  should  be  encouraged.  Of  course,  to 
make  a  person  an  all-round  newspaper  man  I  think  tliat  he  should  travel 
and  have  knowledge  of  other  countries,  but  this  is  impossible  for  many 
individuals,  and  the  next  best  thing,  it  appears  to  me,  is  for  a  newspaper 
man  to  have  been  graduated  from  one  of  these  schools  of  journalism." 


R.  W.  Haywood,  editor  News  and  Observer,  Raleigh,  North  Carolina — 
"I  think  tliat  practical  experience  is  the  best  kind  of  education  for  news 
gathering  and  reporting  and  in  so  far  as  schools  of  journalism  furnish  this 
experience,  I  feel  that  they  are  very  helpful.    Experience  is  the  big  thing. 

"Witli  a  fair  education,  a  willingness  to  work,  a  fondness  for  the  news- 
paper career,  together  with  practical  experience,  a  man  is  equipped  to  hold 
a  position  on  any  newspaper." 


134       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Walter  M.  Harrison,  managing  editor  Daily  Oklahoman  and  Oklahoma 
City  Times,  Oklahoma  City,  Oklahoma — "I  think  there  is  a  distinct  need 
for  schools  of  journalism.  I  have  had  so  much  experience  in  the  last 
three  or  four  years  with  young  men  and  young  women  engaged  in  a 
journalism  course  in  one  of  the  accredited  schools  that  I  can  safely  say  a 
large  majority  of  the  graduates  of  such  schools  go  into  the  newspaper 
business  with  a  good  basic  understanding  of  the  principles  and  tactics  of 
newspaper  work. 

"It  is  my  judgment  that  the  development  of  the  courses  in  journalism 
in  the  colleges  of  the  country  has  had  a  great  deal  to  do  with  bringing 
newspaper  work  up  the  ladder  of  professional  activities  to  where  it  stands 
today,  and  in  my  judgment  will  have  a  material  bearing  in  the  further 
development  of  the  fraternity  to  a  point  where  it  will  be  considered  on  a 
plane  with  any  of  the  classic  professions. 

"As  far  as  the  college  course  is  concerned,  I  think  two  years  in  a  liberal 
arts  school  is  the  best  course  of  study  for  one  planning  to  major  in 
journalism.  After  two  years  in  liberal  arts  the  time  should  be  devoted 
The  most  practical  course  in  journalism,  in  my  judgment,  will  make  it  a 
largely  to  detailed  instruction  in  newspaper  work  with  a  portion  of  the 
student's  time  devoted  to  the  active  work  of  a  college  newspaper  office, 
requirement  that  the  students  before  getting  a  degree  shall  spend  two 
summer  periods  at  work  in  a  newspaper  office.  I  mean  by  summer  period, 
the  vacation  time  between  the  dates  of  the  opening  and  closing  of  the 
regular  school  year." 


Roy  Garner,  managing  editor  Mobile  Register,  Mobile,  Alabama — "It 
has  been  my  observation  that  the  energetic  young  man  with  ambition  backed 
by  fair  knowledge  of  English,  placed  under  older  men  with  patience  to 
.  teach  them,  develop  into  the  best  newspaper  workers.  Our  office  in  the 
last  six  years  has  developed  many  such  men.  From  reports  I  have  received 
the  first  man  has  to  fail.  They  usually  step  into  responsible  positions  in 
comparatively  short  time.  A  reporter  must  have  a  "nose  for  news"  as 
well  as  the  desk  man.  Without  the  "nose  for  news,"  I  don't  care  how  well 
he  may  be  qualified  in  other  respects,  your  man  is  not  going  to  develop 
very  fast  if  at  all. 

"I  have  had  several  graduates  from  schools  of  journalism  during  my 
six  years  experience  as  a  managing  editor.  As  a  rule  they  have  been  dis- 
appointments. I  will  say,  however,  that  these  men  were  not  from  the 
larger  schools  of  the  country.  I  found  them  afflicted  with  egotism  and 
disinclined  to  take  advice.  Every  publication  has  its  peculiarities  in  style 
and  few  newspapers  handle  press  reports  the  same  way  with  respect  to 
display.  Men  who  cannot  learn  these  peculiarities  are  not  worth  much 
to  the  paper.  To  illustrate  my  point  will  say  that  as  far  as  I  know  I  am 
satisfactory  to  the  publisher  of  the  Register.  Suppose  I  was  with  you 
and  got  out  your  newspaper  like  I  do  The  Register  in  news  display  and 
say  that  you  preferred  a  more  sensational  newspaper  than  we  have  here. 
If   I   couldn't  get   your   viewpoint   naturally    I    would   disappoint   you   and 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  135 

you  would  be  entirely  right  in  supplanting  me.  I  have  had  several  men 
who  seemed  to  resent  being  told  to  handle  the  news  as  we  wanted  it  handled 
and  not  as  the  person  in  particular  believed  it  should  be  displayed. 

"I  would  not  condemn  schools  of  journalism.  As  I  see  them  they  merely 
lay  the  foundation.  Their  pupils  should  be  able  to  pick  up  the  fine  points 
of  journalism  quicker  than  the  novice  because  of  their  preliminary  train- 
ing. But  if  you  should  ask  me  if  I  believed  graduates  of  such  schools  are 
qualified  to  step  into  a  newspaper  office  and  handle  responsible  positions 
from  the  beginning,  1  would  say  they  are  not.  If  such  persons  have  been 
so  perfectly  trained  by  a  school  it  has  not  been  my  pleasure  to  meet 
them. 

"Give  me  a  man  with  common  sense,  one  who  loves  the  work,  is 
studious  and  ambitious,  fairly  well  educated  in  English  and  I  can  train 
him  to  become  a  fairly  good  newspaper  man.  Three  weeks  ago  I  wanted 
a  telegraph  editor.  The  man  on  the  local  news  desk  was  doing  all  right 
there  and  did  not  care  to  tackle  the  telegraph  desk.  I  brought  two  or 
three  men  here  from  larger  newspapers  and  they  didn't  suit  me.  One  even- 
ing I  noticed  a  young  man  who  formerly  telegraphed  for  The  Associated 
Press.  He  was  not  familiar  with  the  editorial  room  game.  I  believed  he 
would  learn  quickly.  Despite  the  fact  that  I  was  shorthanded  I  induced  him 
to  try  the  telegraph  desk.  It  was  a  daring  step  on  my  part  and  I  be- 
lieve few  managing  editors  would  have  done  as  I  did.  But  that  boy  is  doing 
his  work  better  than  several  older  men  tried  at  the  desk.  He  quickly 
absorbed  my  ideas  and  now  is  handling  the  desk  practically  without  as- 
sistance. In  six  months  I  believe  he  will  be  just  as  efficient  as  the  graduate 
of  a  school. 

"So  in  closing  I  again  emphasize  the  point  that  success  is  up  to  the 
man  or  woman." 


C.  H.  Dennis,  managing  editor  Chicago  Daily  News,  Chicago,  Illinois — 
"I  wish  that  I  were  better  informed  as  to  the  practical  results  of  courses 
in  schools  of  journalism.  In  the  abstract  I  am  very  favorably  inclined 
to  well  managed  schools  of  this  sort  and  I  have  visited  one  or  two  of  them 
that  seem  to  be  admirably  equipped  for  the  preliminary  training  of 
young  men  and  young  women  who  desire  to  enter  journalism.  Unfor- 
tunately, in  my  long  experience  with  newspaper  work,  I  have  never  seen 
in  practice  the  benefits  that  I  believe  are  derived  from  these  well  con- 
sidered courses  of  study.  Having  seen  so  many  successful  newspaper  men 
come  up  from  the  ranks  despite  their  lack  of  special  education,  I  am  more 
and  more  convinced  that  a  special  aptitude  for  newspaper  work  is  almost 
indispensable  to  success.  Given  this  special  aptitude,  I  have  no  doubt  that 
a  well  conducted  school  of  journalism  is  of  material  help  to  the  young 
man  or  the  young  woman  seeking  to  enter  journalism.  Nothing,  however, 
can  take  the  place  of  hard,  intelligent  work  after  the  beginner  has  actually 
begun  to  make  his  living  on  the  stafif  of  a  newspaper." 


C.   A.   Rook,   editor   Pittsburg   Dispatch,    Pittsburg,   Pennsylvania — "My 


136      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

experience  with  young  men  graduated  from  schools  of  journalism  is  that  a 
great  majority  of  them  seem  to  think  that  having  been  graduated  from  the 
school  they  are  full  fledged  newspaper  men  and  rather  object  to  being  told 
tliat  there  is  a  practical  end  of  the  profession  which  they  must  learn  from 
experience  in  a  newspaper  office.  I  believe,  of  course,  in  schools  of  journal- 
ism, but  I  would  certainly  advise  instructors  to  teach  their  boys  that  they 
are  far  from  knowing  it  all  when  they  leave  the  school. 

"Our  experience  has  been  that  the  boy  who  grows  up  in  a  newspaper 
office  makes  a  better  reporter  than  the  boy  who  comes  in  thinking  he 
knows  it  all.  We  have  trained  many  boys  from  office  boy  to  star  reporter, 
so  that  in  my  opinion  the  boy  who  works  up  develops  into  a  better  news- 
paper man  than  many  of  the  boys,  not  all,  who  come  out  of  schools  of 
journalism.  Do  not  understand  me  as  objecting  or  knocking  schools  of 
journalism,  but  I  would  like  to  see  instructors  in  schools  of  journalism 
show  horse  sense." 


Milo  M.  Thompson,  editor  Idaho  Statesman,  Boise,  Idaho — "The  kind 
of  education  which  fits  one  for  newspaper  writing  is  that  which  trains  best 
in  language,  in  'presence'  and  in  development  of  the  'news  sense.' 

"Training  in  'presence,'  by  which  I  mean  ability  to  conduct  oneself  proper- 
ly, to  meet  people,  making  a  good  impression,  and  to  talk  with  them  intel- 
ligently, might  come  from  business  experience  of  the  traveling  salesman  sort 
or  something  of  that  kind  as  well  as  from  actual  newspaper  experience. 
Training  in  language,  including  grammar,  rhetoric,  spelling  and  vocabulary 
should  come  from  schools.  I  think  the  'news  sense'  is  in  part  an  accident 
of  environment  in  up-bringing  and  in  part  a  result  of  hard  work  in  the 
newspaper  profession." 


Joseph  Garretson,  managing  editor  Cincinnati  Times-Star,  Cincinnati, 
Ohio — "In  my  personal  experience,  covering  a  period  of  thirty-five  years 
in  active  newspaper  work,  I  am  convinced  that  a  college  education  is  a 
necessary  basis  for  a  successful  journalistic  career.  There  is  no  possible 
question  but  that  schools  of  journalism  provide  an  excellent  groundwork 
for  a  newspaper  career." 


Victor  B.  Smith,  managing  editor  Omaha  Daily  Bee,  Omaha,  Nebraska 
— "I  believe  that  the  best  training  a  man  can  have  for  newspaper  work,  in 
so  far  as  education  is  concerned,  is  a  general  academic  course  in  both 
high  school  and  college.  Certain  instruction  in  broad  fundamentals  of  news- 
paper work  may  be  gained  in  school,  particularly  mass  psychology  and 
ethics  of  newspaper  conduct.  I  believe  that  training  in  the  more  technical 
details — such  as  head  writing,  copy  reading  and  actual  construction  of 
stories — can  be  learned  better  in  actual  practice  than  in  school.  At  any 
rate,  I  think  it  more  important  that  the  time  in  school  be  spent  in  more 
fundamental  education,  in  history,  economics,  political  science,  literature  and 
rhetoric.    The  thing  which  puts  a  newspaper  man  ahead  of  his  fellows  to- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  137 

day  is  training  in  these   fundamentals   which   enables   him  to   judge  news 
values  and  interpret  news. 

"The  mere  handling  of  news  is  a  trade ;  it  can  be  learned,  as  other 
trades  are,  by  practical  training.  The  bigger  problems  of  ethics,  broad 
news  values  and  editorial  policy  depend  on  the  more  fundamental  matters 
mentioned  above." 


H.  R.  Gait,  managing  editor  St.  Paul  Dispatch,  St.  Paul  Pioneer 
Press,  St.  Paul,  Minnesota — "I  believe  very  strongly  in  the  schools  of 
journalism  conducted  along  practical  lines  and  have  seen  the  good  results 
in  many  individual  cases.  As  to  the  general  question  of  the  sort  of  edu- 
cation necessary  for  a  newspaper  man,  that  is  too  large  a  subject  for  me 
to  tackle  on  the  eve  of  my  departure  from  the  city,  much  as  I  would 
like  to  do  so." 


Frank  J.  Ryan,  The  Newspaper  Enterprise  Association,  Cleveland,  Ohio 
— '"Speaking  from  a  long  experience  as  city  editor  and  managing  editor, 
I  want  to  say  first  in  regard  to  the  education  and  training  of  persons  for 
the  journalistic  profession: 

"I  thoroughly  believe  in  a  good  basic  education  in  colleges  of  journal- 
ism or  colleges  devoted  to  the  fine  arts.  I  think  every  newspaper  man  and 
every  newspaper  woman  should  have  equipment  of  thorough  schooling  in 
mathematics,  basic  sciences,  history,  literature  and  economics.  I  think 
a  general  training  in  language  study  is  an  excellent  asset.  I  further  think 
every  newspaper  man  and  every  newspaper  woman  should  know  something 
of  the  theory  of  psychology  and  sociology. 

"I  know  of  no  better  way  in  which  the  theoretical  foundation  for 
successful  journalistic  career  can  be  obtained  than  in  a  real  college  of 
journalism.  I,  myself,  am  not  a  college  man.  I  realize,  therefore,  all  the 
more  the  benefits  that  are  to  be  gained  from  a  college  training. 

"It  has  been  my  observation  that  college  trained  men  of  approximately 
the  same  inherent  and  natural  ability,  working  along  side  of  men  who  did 
not  have  the  benefit  of  a  college  education,  have  excelled  the  latter. 

"The  big  thing  about  a  college  education  is  that  it  enables  a  man  to 
have  a  broader  understanding  of  affairs  generally,  and  to  express  himself 
more  intelligently  and  effectually.  While  this  same  facility  of  expression 
can  be  acquired  by  actual  work,  I  think  the  theory  of  it  is  just  as  im- 
portant a  part  of  the  equipment  of  a  newspaper  man  or  newspaper  woman 
as  the  theory  of  medicine  is  to  a  physician  or  the  theory  of  surgery  is  to 
a  surgeon. 

"I  do  not  mean  that  one  cannot  succeed  in  this  business  without  college 
training.  I  know  some  men  who  have  made  most  outstanding  successes 
without  such  preparation.  However,  there  is  no  telling  how  much  farther 
they  would  have  gone  if  they  had  had  the  benefit  of  a  college  foundation. 

"I  think  that  schools  of  journalism  would  do  much  more  effective  work 
if  they  arranged  extension  courses  so  that  in  vacations  and  periods  the 
students  would  have  an  opportunity  to  get  actual  experience  on  newspapers. 


138       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Also,  I  think  that  a  portion  of  the  college  course  should  be  given  to  actual 
experience  on  newspapers  for  which  the  students  would  be  given  due 
credit  by  the  college.  This  is  especially  important  early  in  the  college  course, 
as  without  such  an  opportunity  many  men  and  women  go  ahead  preparing 
themselves  for  journalism  when  naturally  and  fundamentally  they  are 
totally  unfitted  for  this  line  of  work.  Of  course,  the  sooner  they  find  this 
out  the  better  it  is  for  themselves." 


R.  E.  Stout,  managing  editor  Kansas  City  Star,  Kansas  City,  Missouri — 
"I  am  positive  the  schools  of  journalism  have  justified  their  existence.  It 
is  not  what  they  have  done  for  the  so-called  metropolitan  papers  on  which 
I  base  this  belief  but  on  what  they  have  done  for  the  county  seat  weekly 
and  the  small  town  daily.  In  Kansas  and  Missouri  they  have  exercised 
marked  influence  on  newspapers  of  this  type.  The  boys  who  have  studied 
at  the  school  of  journalism  have  absorbed  the  right  ideas  of  ethics,  of  a 
better  typography  and  have  an  understanding  of  the  better  ideals  of  journal- 
ism. To  me  there  is  abundant  evidence  of  a  very  distinct  improvement  in 
the  so-called  country  press  as  a  result  of  the  teachings  of  the  schools  of 
journalism." 


H.  M.  Crist,  managing  editor  Brooklyn  Daily  Eagle,  Brooklyn,  New 
York — "A  general  college  education  will  give  the  equipment  needed  in 
order  to  become  a  good  newspaper  reporter,  provided  one  has  aptitude  for 
this  kind  of  work.  Colleges,  however,  cannot  give  news  sense  to  a  reporter. 
That  must  be  born  in  one  and  this  quality  is  quite  as  important  as  a  college 
education  if  the  reporter  is  to  rise  above  mediocrity.  Schools  of  journalism 
are  helpful  in  supplying  a  certain  technique,  but  I  tliink  this  is  best 
learned  by  actual  work  in  a  newspaper  office.  My  observation  is  that  the 
colleges  furnish  as  good  reporters  as  do  the  schools  of  journalism." 


Dick  Smith,  managing  editor  Kansas  City  Post,  Kansas  City,  Missouri — 
"In  regard  to  your  request  for  an  opinion  concerning  schools  of  journalism, 
I  will  say  that  I  consider  them  particularly  of  value  in  giving  the  re- 
porter the  technical  training  he  needs.  Of  course,  a  school  of  journalism, 
no  more  than  a  newspaper  office,  cannot  make  a  reporter  out  of  a  person 
in  whom  the  bed  rock  material  is  lacking. 

"City  editors  and  experienced  reporters  in  offices  would  be  saved  a  great 
deal  of  trouble  and  annoyance  if  all  the  beginners  who  came  to  them  had 
been  trained  in  schools  of  journalism.  The  school  takes  off  the  shoulders  of 
the  newspaper  office  executive  the  first  six  months'  or  year's  training  of 
beginners. 

"However,  perhaps,  tlie  main  value  of  the  school  of  journalism  to  the 
reporter  is  that  he  gets  with  his  technical  training,  education  in  other  sub- 
jects. For  instance,  I  understand  that  a  study  of  economics  is  required. 
With  the  activities  of  the  world  today  hinging  almost  completely  on 
economic  questions,  no  reporter  can  function  intelligently  without  some 
knowledge  of  this  subject. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  139 

"Developments  in  science  are  becoming  of  increasing  importance  in  the 
news  of  the  day.  I  take  it  for  granted,  the  journalism  student  is  required 
to  make  a  general  study  of  science.  History,  sociology,  languages,  various 
other  branches  of  learning  that  he  gets  with  his  journalism  will  prove  use- 
ful to  him. 

"Of  course  the  schools  of  journalism  are  presenting  a  problem  by  flood- 
ing the  market  with  large  numbers  of  graduates,  many  of  whom  do  not 
have  sufficiently  practical  ideas  of  newspaper  work.  If  the  schools  could 
weed  out  more  of  the  unfit  before  the  latter  get  their  degrees,  the  standing 
of  the  institutions  would  be  greatly  raised  in  newspaper  offices.  Often  per- 
sons who  have  no  fitness  whatever  for  newspaper  work  spend  much  time 
in  preparation  at  the  schools  only  to  suffer  disillusionment  later  in  offices. 

"After  all,  though,  the  whole  problem  harks  back  to  the  individual. 
The  best  reporters  are  those  who  are  educated,  whether  by  college  or  by 
self  does  not  matter  materially." 


Charles  H.  Sessions,  managing  editor  Topeka  Daily  Capital,  Topeka, 
Kansas — "In  selecting  reporters  for  The  Capital  we  now  give  preference 
to  those  who  have  been  trained  at  the  schools  of  journalism.  Of  course 
many  of  these  young  men  do  not  know  as  much  about  the  newspaper  busi- 
ness as  they  think  they  do,  but  at  that  they  know  more  than  the  average  cub 
picked  up  on  the  street.  While  I  am  not  a  college  man  myself,  I  feel  that 
a  college  education  is  a  fine  thing  for  any  young  man  desiring  to  do  news- 
paper work. 

"Not  all  students  of  journalism  of  course,  pan  out  as  good  reporters  but 
a  higher  per  cent,  of  them  turn  out  better  than  the  average  run  of  cubs, 
who  have  had  no  training  in  college  schools  of  journalism." 


Otis  Lorton,  managing  editor  Tulsa  Daily  World,  Tulsa,  Oklahoma — 
"I  am  one  of  those  who  are  prejudiced  against  schools  of  journalism. 
This  may  be  because  of  those  graduates  I  have  come  in  contact  with. 
However,  I  am  a  strong  believer  in  tlie  school  of  practical  experience  for 
the  making  of  valuable  newspaper  men  and  women.  Outside  of  giving  the 
student  a  better  drilling  in  English,  possibly,  I  have  never  seen  any  particu- 
lar value  in  schools  of  journalism.  Most  of  the  graduates  I  have  known 
are  full  of  theories  which  are  not  practical,  and  they  have  been  sadly  lack- 
ing in  news  sense  and  the  knowledge  of  how  to  write  a  story." 


Charles  McD.  Puckette,  managing  editor  New  York  Evening  Post,  New 
York — "Judging  by  the  work  of  the  graduates  of  schools  of  journalism  who 
have  come  under  my  eye  in  this  office  there  is  no  definite  opinion  to  be 
given.  Some  have  been  extraordinarily  good,  others  have  been  hopeless  as 
newspaper  men.  It  all  came  back  to  the  personal  equation.  The  results 
of  their  journalistic  education  were  fairly  discernible  in  the  good  ones ; 
undoubtedly  their  training  had  fitted  them  for  moderately  rapid  advance- 
ment in  newspaper  work. 


140       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

"As  I  understand  it  the  best  schools  of  journalism  now  require  an 
academic  degree  as  a  requisite  for  entrance.  Where  this  is  the  case  schools 
of  journalism  must  undertake  to  give  their  graduates  better  training  and 
to  place  them  in  a  more  advantageous  position  in  the  newspaper  field  than 
these  same  students  could  obtain  by  spending  the  terms  of  years  equivalent 
to  that  journalistic  course  in  practical  paid  newspaper  work.  I  think  it  is 
quite  important  for  a  newspaper  man  to  have  a  college  education  but  if  in 
hiring  a  college  man  I  had  the  choice  of  a  graduate  who  had  had  four  years 
actual  newspaper  work  as  against  a  man  who  had  spent  four  years  in  the 
school  of  journalism  I  should  probably  choose  without  hesitation  the  man 
who  had  had  the  practical  work. 

"It  has  been  my  observation  that  several  schools  of  journalism  have 
permitted  students  to  remain  throughout  the  course  and  to  be  graduated 
who  were  obviously  unfitted  ever  to  be  newspaper  workers.  I  think  every 
school  of  journalism  could  'pluck'  its  classes  at  the  end  of  the  first  year, 
say,  and  weed  out  the  hopeless  ones  by  some  test  of  fitness.  This  would 
be  a  good  thing  for  the  schools  themselves.  I  think  it  may  come,  too,  that 
schools  of  journalism  will  develop  more  in  the  direction  of  giving  their 
students  some  practical  knowledge  of  newspaper  working  plus  a  thoroughly 
intensified  course  in  some  special  field  such  as  foreign  affairs,  government, 
agriculture,  etc.  I  think  too  that  there  is  a  real  opportunity  for  schools  of 
journalism  to  ofifer  courses  on  the  business  side  of  newspapers.  There  is 
no  training  school  that  I  know  of  for  circulation,  production,  advertising 
and  promotion  managers." 


John  T.  Burke,  managing  editor  Richmond  Times-Dispatch,  Richmond, 
Virginia — "The  first  essential  is  a  nose  for  news,  backed  by  a  sound  edu- 
cation, embracing  a  comprehensive  course  in  standard  English  literature.  A 
college  education  is  no  load  to  carry  in  a  newspaper  office,  but  to  become  a 
success  the  neophyte  must  love  the  profession  and  look  upon  it  as  his  life 
work,  not  as  a  stepping-stone  to  more  profitable  things." 


F.  W.  Eldridge,  managing  editor  Los  Angeles  Examiner,  Los  Angeles, 
California — "I  am  afraid  I  will  have  to  answer  your  courteous  inquiry  in 
a  rather  sketchy  fashion.     If  I  am  at  all  helpful  I  should  be  indeed  pleased. 

"To  start  with — I  am  very  enthusiastic  on  the  subject  of  scliools  of 
journalism.  Many  practical  newspaper  men  think  otherwise.  They  will 
tell  you  that  the  best  possible  training  to  make  an  efficient  reporter,  or 
editor,  must  come  from  a  slow  working  up  through  professional  ranks ; 
indeed  many  newspaper  men  think  a  proper  newspaper  training  cannot  be 
obtained  in  any  other  way;  nevertheless  the  school  of  journalism  is  enor- 
mously important  in  directing  the  attention  of  young  men  to  the  newspaper 
field;  in  arousing  the  journalistic  spirit  and  in  giving  them  a  most  excellent 
preparatory  training — both  intellectual  and  technical.  Even  a  first-class 
newspaper  man  could  gather  new  ideas  and  new  impulses  in  the  well- 
managed  schools  of  journalism.  While  a  highly  proficient  newspaper  man 
may    come    up    through    the    ranks — indeed    many    have    graduated    from 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  141 

printers'  devils  and  office  boys — nevertheless  these  gentlemen  must  neces- 
sarily feel  the  lack  of  certain  educational  qualities  which  they  have  possibly 
not  found  time  to  acquire — the  sort  of  education  the  student  in  a  school  of 
journalism  must  inevitably  absorb. 

"The  best  way  to  educate  a  young  man  for  newspaper  writing  is  to 
interest  him  in  the  affairs  of  the  world  at  large.  He  must  be  a  close 
student  of  current  affairs  and  affairs  of  humanity.  It  is  impossible  to 
over-educate  a  newspaper  editor.  If  he  can,  he  should  know  something  of 
everything  and  certainly  keep  himself  well  abreast  of  the  tides  in  the 
affairs  of  men  that  create  history. 

"My  own  personal  opinion  of  newspaper  training  would  start  from  the 
cub  reporter  and  continue  thereon ;  that  is  to  say :  a  first-class  newspaper 
man  should  know  every  possible  angle  of  this  very  complicated  profession. 
Then  he  should  read  and  read  and  read;  and  if  he  had  the  spirit  and  genuine 
impulse,  he  will  gradually  train  himself  not  only  in  the  technique  of  the 
profession,  but  will  at  the  same  time  acquire  a  liberal  education." 


F.  W.  Clarke,  managing  editor  Atlanta  Constitution,  Atlanta,  Georgia — 
"It  has  been  my  experience  tliat  the  best  training  of  this  kind  is  to  be  se- 
cured inside  a  newspaper  office.  Schools  of  journalism  may  be  theoretically 
good,  but  it  has  been  our  experience  that  they  do  very  little  in  enabling  an 
embryo  newspaper  man  to  advance  in  his  chosen  profession. 

"It  is  my  firm  belief  that  a  newspaper  man  is  born,  not  made,  and  if  he 
has  the  spark  in  him  he  can  best  develop  it  by  actual  experience  in  a  news- 
paper office,  while  if  he  hasn't  it,  all  the  education  and  all  the  experience  will 
never  make  a  star  newspaper  man  out  of  him. 

"The  best  journalistic  education  for  any  young  man  is  for  him  to  enter 
a  newspaper  office  where  the  editors  will  have  enough  interest  to  watch  his 
work  and  coach  him  along.  For  instance,  any  young  man  who  comes  to 
The  Constitution  office  is  not  only  carefully  instructed  as  to  his  duties,  but 
his  work  is  also  watched  for  the  purpose  of  ascertaining  whether  or  not 
his  bent  is  toward  feature  and  descriptive  work  or  straight  news  items. 
Or  it  might  be  that  his  special  ability  was  as  a  desk  man,  and  the  editor 
with  the  proper  interest  would  so  guide  his  efforts.  Some  of  the  greatest 
editors  who  have  been  known  in  the  history  of  American  newspapers  have 
been  very  poor  writers,  while  on  the  other  hand  some  of  the  greatest  feature 
writers  would  never  have  qualified  as  editors. 

"It  is  my  conviction  that  only  by  actual  experience  in  a  newspaper  office 
can  these  qualifications  in  a  young  man  be  demonstrated,  and  it  is  for  this 
reason  that  I  believe  the  best  journalistic  education  for  a  young  man  is  to 
be  found  in  a  newspaper  office,  and  not  in  a  journalism  course.  Journalism 
courses  teach  certain  rudiments  of  course,  but  these  same  rudiments  could  be 
learned  in  one-tenth  the  time  in  the  actual  work  of  a  newspaper  office." 


Barry  Bullock,  managing  editor  The  Courier-Journal,  Louisville,  Ken- 
tucky— "In  reply  to  your  letter  I  am  very  glad  to  give  you  my  somewhat 
limited  experience   with  men   from  schools   of   journalism.     For  the   most 


142      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

part  the  graduates  of  such  institutions  have  come  to  us  after  they  have 
served  their  novitiate  on  some  other  newspaper.  Their  callowness  was 
therefore  somewliat  modified  by  practical  journalism.  These  men  have  been 
average  reporters.  But  this  is  nothing  against  schools  of  journalism  be- 
cause a  reporter  is  born,  not  made.  It  requires  a  special  aptitude,  and  if 
he  hasn't  this  he  will  never  be  a  reporter.  For  general  information,  too,  the 
graduates  of  these  schools  are  no  better  fitted  than  the  graduate  of  some 
school  of  arts. 

"Please  do  not  think  I  am  prejudiced  against  schools  of  journalism.  The 
curricula  of  such  institutions  that  I  have  examined  have  seemed  inadequate. 
But  the  requirements  of  a  newspaper  are  so  great  that  the  most  liberal 
education  is  required.  History  is  not  emphasized  in  some  of  these  schools  and 
neither  are  sociology  and  political  economy.  These  subjects  of  course  are 
of  paramount  importance.  I  am  sorry  that  my  experience  has  not  been 
more  varied  in  this  particular  but  I  am  sending  these  conclusions  for  what- 
ever they  may  be  worth." 


William  Allen  White,  editor  Emporia  Gazette,  Emporia,  Kansas — "You 
ask  me  in  your  letter  of  Aug.  16  for  my  opinion  of  schools  of  journalism. 
I  suppose  that  so  long  as  country  printing  offices  are  practically  shut  to  the 
young  man  by  the  restriction  of  union  apprenticeship,  the  practical  end  of 
the  printing  end  of  the  printing  business  can  no  longer  be  learned  by  many 
aspiring  journalists.  I  should  say  that  the  way  to  get  into  the  newspaper 
business  is  first  through  a  college  course,  then  through  two  years  course 
in  the  front  room  of  a  printing  office,  then  doing  leg  work  on  country 
papers.  But  as  the  country  printing  office  is  closed  I  suppose  the  school  of 
journalism  is  tlie  best  modern  substitute."' 


W.  W.  Waymack,  managing  editor  Des  Moines  Register  and  the  Eve- 
ning Tribune,  Des  Moines,  Iowa — "My  opinion  is  that  schools  of  journalism 
while  doubtless  more  or  less  theoretical  and  ineffective  in  their  beginning 
have  greatly  improved,  and  that  some  of  them  are  of  very  great  value 
now  in  training  people  to  be  real  newspaper  workers.  I  think  there  is 
no  question  in  the  world  but  that  the  newspapers  of  the  United  States 
need  the  journalistic  schools — the  good  ones,  that  is  to  say.  Our  news- 
papers have  got  along  altogether  too  many  years  with  a  preponderance  of 
uninformed,  incompetent  editorial  help.  The  disposition  in  some  quarters 
always  to  think  and  speak  contemptously  of  cub  reporters  has  been 
too  much  justified,  not  only  by  cubs  but  by  others.  Authoritative  re- 
porting by  men  who  know  how  is  very  badly  needed  in  this  country,  in 
the  interest  of  newspapering  itself  quite  as  much  as  in  the  interest  of  the 
public.  The  better  the  schools  get  and  the  more  that  newspapers  take  advan- 
tage of  the  work  the  schools  do,  the  more  progress  will  be  made  along 
this  line.  Real  education  of  prospective  newspaper  writers  on  social  and 
economic  subjects  is  perhaps  the  most  important  thing  of  all  right  now." 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  143 

Tom  Finty,  Jr.,  associate  editor  Dallas  Morning  News  and  editor  Dallas 
Journal,  Dallas,  Texas — "In  regard  to  training  for  newspaper  work.  It 
is  my  idea  that  the  best  material  out  of  which  to  make  a  newspaper  man 
is  a  man  of  fair  education,  who  has  been  an  intelligent  reader,  and  who 
has  engaged  in  various  pursuits,  but  publishers  rarely  are  willing  to  pay 
such  men  enough  to  attract  them  into  the  business.  The  cub  idea  still 
obtains,  although  the  facilities  for  training  cubs  in  newspaper  offices  no 
longer  are  present  as  they  were  in  former  years.  Handling  the  news  while 
it  is  in  progress  and  putting  out  many  editions  a  day,  editors  no  longer 
have  time  to  brace  up  the  stories  of  amateurs  nor  to  train  and  counsel 
beginners  as  in  days  of  yore.  Schools  of  journalism  are  natural  develop- 
ment. They  do  good  where  they  do  not  lead  the  pupils  to  expect  too 
much,  and  especially  where  the  teachers  are  frank  enough  to  tell  a  pupil 
that  he  isn't  meant  for  the  business. 

"You  ask :  'What  kind  of  education  best  fits  one  for  newspaper  writ- 
ing, particularly  for  newsgathering  and  reporting,  and  how  this  education 
can  be  best  obtained?'  The  three  R's  are  essential.  These  comprehend 
spelling.  It  is  true  that  printers  correct  copy,  but  a  good  knowledge  of 
spelling  nevertheless  is  necessary.  A  poor  speller  is  not  accurate  in  any- 
thing, and  inaccuracy  is  an  abomination.  A  good  knowledge  of  mathe- 
matics also  is  necessary  in  the  newspaper  business,  because  it  is  often 
necessary  for  a  reporter  or  editor  to  handle  figures,  and  because  the  mathe- 
matical mind  is  an  analytical  mind.  English,  of  course,  is  indispensable. 
In  this  connection  a  study  of  the  Bible  is  recommended,  not  alone  because 
of  the  purity  of  its  English,  but  also  because  of  the  morals  and  justice 
that  it  teaches.  A  good  knowledge  of  history  is  desirable,  and  training  in 
industry — love  for  work — is  essential.  Lazy  men  do  not  belong  in  news- 
paper offices.  Then,  I  agree  with  Mr.  Edison,  that  there  ought  to  be  train- 
ing in  memory.  It  is  absolutely  essential  in  newspaper  work  that  one 
should  have  thousands  of  facts  instantly  available  and  that  he  should  know 
where  to  look  for  other  facts.  There  really  is  no  excuse  for  errors  in 
newspapers.  The  newspaper  worker  ought  to  remember  most  of  what  he 
has  learned  in  school,  and  he  ought  to  be  able  to  retain  most  of  the  facts 
of  later  acquisition,  the  names  of  persons  and  places,  incidents,  etc.  At 
least  a  fair  knowledge  of  law  is  very  desirable,  not  only  because  news- 
paper workers  have  to  deal  with  law,  but  also  because  of  its  disciplinary 
value.  And  especially  ought  there  to  be  some  training  in  libel  and  the 
law  upon  the  subject.  Every  student  in  journalism  ought  to  attend  lec- 
tures thereon.  I  give  a  few  sentences  that  I  think  ought  to  be  stressed 
in  such  lectures. 

"  'There  ought  to  be  a  libel  law.  Newspaper  men  ought  to  go  to  great 
pains  to  keep  libelous  matter  out  of  the  papers,  not  only  because  libel  suits 
are  costly,  but  also  and  more  so  because  it  is  morally  wrong  to  ignore  the 
law  and  to  mete  out  injustice.  Sometimes  the  judgments  in  libel  suits  are 
unless  there  was  something  wrong  with,  some  inaccuracy  in,  the  article 
unless  there  was  something  wrong  with,  some  inaccuracy  in,  the  article 
upon  which  it  was  founded.     A  passion  for  accuracy  in  all  things  and  a 


144      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

burning  desire  to  be  just  and  decent  are  almost  impregnable  defenses  against 
libel  suits.'  " 


Casper  S.  Yost,  who  for  more  than  thirty  years  has  been  connected 
with  the  editorial  department  of  the  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  wrote  from 
Paris :  "I  have  no  leisure  to  comply  with  your  request,  more  than  to  hazard 
the  opinion  that  a  general  education  is  the  best  foundation  for  journalism, 
and  the  generaler  the  better.  But  of  course  any  collegiate  education  is 
only  a  foundation.  The  schools  of  journalism  are  valuable  as  preparatory 
institutions  but  they  don't  make  newspaper  men.  Only  experience  will  do 
that." 


J.  M.  Noth,  Jr.,  managing  editor  F'ort  Worth  Star-Telegram,  Fort 
Worth,  Texas — "I  have  always  rather  felt  that  the  best  school  of  jour- 
nalism is  that  of  practical  experience,  but  at  the  same  time  I  do  think  there 
is  a  wonderful  amount  of  work  that  such  schools  can  do  in  preparing 
students  for  newspaper  work  that  will  better  fit  them  and  enable  them  to 
progress  more  rapidly  when  they  take  up  practical  work.  I  should  think 
a  course  in  literature,  particularly  one  that  would  bring  out  the  styles  in 
writing,  a  thorough  course  in  history  and  economics  and  a  study  of  gov- 
ernment would  make  good  foundation  work.  One  of  the  greatest  handicaps 
I  have  noticed  in  young  reporters,  and  a  lot  of  old  ones  for  that  matter, 
is  the  lack  of  a  good  vocabulary.  Most  of  them  seem  to  be  woefully 
short  in  expressing  their  thoughts.  The  best  way  to  acquire  a  good  vo- 
cabulary is  the  slow  and  painstaking  method  of  looking  it  up  in  the  dic- 
tionary. If  the  student  is  made  to  look  up  every  word  with  which  he  is 
unfamiliar  as  he  runs  across  it  and  then  use  it  at  every  opportunity  until 
he  becomes  thoroughly  familiar  with  it,  he  will  soon  acquire  an  excellent 
vocabulary  and  will  have  a  diction  that  the  average  reporter  does  not 
have. 

"I  have  found  reporters,  and  some  of  them  college  graduates,  who  were 
thoroughly  informed  as  to  a  lot  of  information  absolutely  useless  but 
were  woefully  ignorant  on  everyday  affairs,  and  particularly  the  men  and 
women  who  are  making  history  of  the  day.  I  have  found  some  of  them 
had  absolutely  no  knowledge  of  persons  who  have  figured  in  news  develop- 
ment of  recent  years. 

"I  do  not  think  the  importance  of  a  school  of  journalism  can  be  over- 
estimated for  the  ground  work  of  a  newspaper  career,  and  I  find  that  very 
much  of  the  work  through  which  a  reporter  has  to  pass  in  his  cub  stage 
is  eliminated  by  such  schools.  However,  I  think  the  school  of  journalism 
that  attempts  to  fit  men  only  for  country  newspapers  and  small  daily  work 
is  making  a  serious  mistake.  I  think  the  course  should  be  such  as  to  fit 
a  man  for  any  kind  of  newspaper  work  and  I  believe  that  when  such 
courses  are  given  the  school  is  doing  its  part  in  turning  out  men  who  will 
be  able  to  cash  in  their  course  within  a  short  time  after  they  become  con- 
nected with  any  newspaper." 


m 


LORRIN    A.    TJIUllSTUX,    (upper) 
President,  Advertiser  Puhlishi)iy  Company,  IIonohilK. 

WALLACE  R.  FARRlNCiTOX.    (center) 
ilovernor  of  Territory  of  Hawaii. 

ALEXANDER  HUME  FORD,    (lower) 
Director  of  I'aii-l'acific  Union. 


Proceedinss  of  the  Consress  145 

J.  B.  Doze,  managing  editor  Wichita  Eagle,  Wichita,  Kansas — "In  the 
first  place  news  gatherers  are  born — not  trained.  The  best  news  gatherers 
I  have  ever  met  were  indififerent  writers.  And  some  of  the  best  writers 
I  have  employed  were  dubs  at  gathering  news  or  were  unreliable  and  in- 
capable of  securing  all  the  facts  a  news  story  should  contain. 

"Presentation  of  news  is  changing  with  the  times.  The  public  prefers 
to  be  amused  rather  than  informed.  I  am  coming  to  the  belief  that  the 
new  way  of  handling  news  will  be  a  composite  style,  a  little  information 
with  a  lot  of  trimmings  put  in  to  entertain  the  readers. 

"The  best  news  writers  and  news  gatherers  are  students  of  psychology. 
In  fact  the  more  one  knows  of  this  subject  the  better  he  or  she  is  able 
to  catch  the  public  attention  and  hold  it  through  a  story. 

"Fundamentals  of  news  presentation  are :  to  be  able  to  write  correctly, 
use  short,  snappy  sentences,  use  a  large  variety  of  simple  words,  and  to 
familiarize  oneself  with  all  walks  and  stations  in  life.  College  education 
can  be  wasted  in  trying  to  make  a  news  writer  out  of  a  school  teacher. 
Humor  is  a  wonderful  asset. 

"America,  I  believe,  has  given  the  newspaper  world  the  interview,  the 
scare  heads  and  features  in  styles  of  writing  and  make-up  of  papers. 
Lately  we  are  giving  the  world  a  striking  example  of  how  advertisers 
are  getting  a  firmer  grip  upon  the  news  columns.  This  is  an  advertising 
age  and  advertising  is  rapidly  reaching  an  equal  if  not  getting  a  superior 
place  in  the  newspaper  field.  I  would  not  be  amazed  to  realize  fully  within 
the  next  five  years  that  the  editorial  side  of  a  newspaper  is  secondary  to 
the  advertising  side.  But  I  hope  that  there  will  be  a  turn.  Unless  news- 
paper owners  stand  together  in  a  pact  to  bar  the  doors  against  press  no- 
tices of  all  kinds — no  matter  if  they  do  lose  a  national  advertiser — the 
news  side  will  take  second  place  and  we  indeed  will  become  a  kept 
press  in  fact. 

"In  my  many  years  experience  in  six  states  as  a  newspaper  man  I 
have  found  that  the  best  writers  come  from  the  little  towns  as  a  rule 
and  that  many  of  them  do  not  have  college  educations.  In  fact  I  am 
an  example  of  one  who  has  succeeded  fairly  well  without  higher  educa- 
tion. I  spent  less  than  twelve  years  in  school.  However,  I  do  not  in- 
dorse the  idea  that  a  college  education  is  not  necessary.  I  would  give 
much  to  have  a  degree  from  a  higher  university. 

"Some  of  our  schools  of  journalism  fail  largely  because  they  do  not 
have  material  to  work  into  shape.  The  chief  fault  I  find  with  the  product 
of  schools  of  journalism  is  that  they  make  automatic  news  writers.  All 
handle  news  in  the  same  style  and  I  find  that  style  stereotyped. 

"One  of  the  star  reporters  on  the  Kansas  City  Star  today  began  as  ci 
cub  on  the  Eagle  and  for  years  he  did  not  know  what  a  period  is  for 
or  that  a  sentence  should  begin  with  a  capital  letter.  He  has  succeeded 
because  he  has  the  natural  nose  for  news  and  is  a  born  student  of  the 
human  mind. 

"Our  schools  of  journalism,  I  believe,  would  aid  the  fraternity  more 
by  refusing  diplomas  to  stereotyped  and  indifferent  news  writers  than  by 
10 


146      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

sending  them  out  into  the  world  laboring  under  the  impression  that  thej^ 
were  news  writers  or  journalists.  Perhaps  one  in  ten  'graduated'  is  a 
news  writer. 

"The  profession  is  different  from  anything  under  the  sun.  Its  code 
changes,  its  style  is  everchanging  and  it  has  no  fixed  formulas  nor  has 
it  unchangeable  standards  like  law  or  medicine.  Authorities  of  today  are 
out  of  date  tomorrow.  Then  again  each  community  prefers  a  different 
style,  as  a  rule.  Some  sections  are  strong  for  slap-stick  news,  others 
want  it  heavy  and  weighty,  others  highly  colored,  etc.  Style  in  Texas  and 
style  in  Kansas  are  entirely  different.  On  the  Atlantic  international  news 
is  of  interest.  In  the  middle  west  we  care  little  what  is  going  on  in 
Austria  or  France  but  we  get  excited  if  a  wildcat  oil  well  comes  in  or 
wheat  jumps  up  twenty-five  cents  the  bushel.  This  emphasizes  that  to  be 
a  successful  news  writer  or  editor  one  must  be  a  natural  psychologist,  in- 
dividually and  collectively.  And  our  schools  of  journalism  should  major 
this  study  instead  of  teaching  headwriting  and  style  sheets. 

"A  board  of  governors  composed  of  active  editors  of  news — not  edi- 
torial— would  save  the  country  from  this  deluge  every  year  of  half-baked, 
presumptuous  'journalists'  we  are  getting.  Their  judgment  would  be 
worth,  in  my  mind,  more  than  the  gradings  by  a  technical  teacher  not 
in  the  daily  grind  of  news  manufacturing,  if  I  may  use  the  term." 


Wade  Mountfortt,  managing  editor  The  Commercial  Tribune,  Cincin- 
nati, Ohio — "A  college  education  of  course  is  a  most  valuable  asset  for 
any  calling  and  naturally  this  would  apply  to  newspaper  work.  In  fact, 
nearly  anyone  would  say  off  hand  that  such  an  education  would  be 
quite  as  essential  to  this  line  of  work  as  to  any  other  profession,  but 
often  by  the  time  a  man  has  passed  through  a  university  he  has  reached 
an  age  where  it  is  not  possible  for  him  to  begin  at  the  bottom  rung  of 
business  life  and  this  is  absolutely  essential  to  a  successful  newspaper 
career.  So,  a  good  fundamental  common  school  education,  three  or  four 
years  of  general  reporting  coupled  with  an  intelligent  study  of  newspaper 
methods  constitute  tlie  equipment  of  a  large  number  of  men  who  are  success- 
ful in  this  line  of  work. 

"I  regret  to  say  that  I  regard  the  so-called  school  of  journalism  as 
almost  a  total  loss.  I  have  tried  out  a  considerable  number  of  persons 
from  these  schools  with  general  disappointment.  It  is  not  possible  for 
one  to  learn  how  a  newspaper  is  made  merely  by  reading  and  studying  the 
newspaper  or  being  told  about  it.  Newspaper  men  who  have  gone  from 
the  smaller  communities  to  Chicago,  New  York  and  other  large  cities, 
even  after  many  years  of  work  in  the  smaller  places,  will  have  a  clear  ap- 
preciation of  what  I  mean  by  that.  To  see  it  in  the  making  is  to  learn 
how  to  do  it.  Imitations  of  the  various  kinds  of  metropolitan  newspapers  are 
often  ridiculously  lacking  in  their  essential  qualities.  Hence,  I  believe 
that  the  successful  'School  of  Journalism'  of  the  future  will  be  a  part  of 
some   wide-awake  and   enterprising   newspaper.     There   the   beginner    may 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  147 

see  the  manufacture  of  the  newspaper  m  all  its  phases  and  will  be  equipped 
to  go  forth  and  put  into  practice  what  he  has  seen  others  accomplish." 


A.  W.  Grant,  managing  editor  San  Antonio  Express,  San  Antonio, 
Texas — "Without  much  more  familiarity  with  the  colleges  of  journalism  now 
in  existence  than  I  possess  it  is  impossible  to  say  what  their  ground  work 
should  be.  Of  the  students  who  have  come  from  Austin  here  I  think  the 
greatest  difficulty  has  been  lack  of  ability  to  apply  principles  which  un- 
doubtedly they  had  been  taught. 

"Especially  have  I  noticed  in  University  students  here,  those  from  the 
main  University  mostly,  for  we  have  had  very  few  directly  from  the 
College  of  Journalism,  a  tendency  to  use  vague  and  general  words  and 
phrases  instead  of  precise  and  specific  ones.  I  take  it  that  this  is  charge- 
able mostly  to  their  preliminary  school  work  where  they  must  have 
studied  a  great  deal  about  English  vaguely  instead  of  learning  a  little 
thoroughly.  On  the  other  hand  I  have  had  a  boy  out  of  the  army,  a  baker 
before  he  enlisted,  who  has  been  at  work  a  little  over  a  year  and  who 
did  not  have  even  a  good  common  schooling  when  put  to  work.  His  gram- 
matical constructions  are  not  good  but  his  selection  of  words  that  have 
definite  meanings  shows  that  his  very  limited  vocabulary  has  been  learned 
thoroughly. 

"If  journalism  colleges  do  not  stress  the  importance  of  knowing  what 
every  word  means  and  all  that  it  may  or  may  not  mean  before  it  is  used 
in  a  news  story  their  progress  will  be  delayed  because  a  reputation  for 
turning  out  graduates  who  have  been  equipped  inadequately  will  reflect 
upon  them. 

"This,  however,  deals  with  only  one  phase  of  newspaper  work.  I  be- 
lieve that  after  a  certain  point  the  courses  in  a  college  of  journalism  should 
diverge  so  that  the  student  wishing  to  qualify  for  some  department  other 
than  the  editorial  branch  could  get  an  insight  into  the  other  sides  of  news- 
paper work.  Four  years  spent  in  the  study  of  news-gathering,  news-writ- 
ing and  news-display  is  not  too  long,  but  four  years  thus  spent  will  not 
equip  the  student  to  enter  the  counting  room,  the  circulation  department 
or  the  advertising  department. 

"Whatever  the  department  of  newspaper  work  for  which  a  student  is 
in  training  there  should  be  held  before  him  always  the  fact  that  the  news- 
paper is  a  public  service  institution,  privately-owned,  and  because  it  is 
not  subject  to  many  of  the  regulations  of  other  public-service  institutions 
its  responsibility  to  the  public  is  proportionately  greater.  The  art  of 
dealing  with  the  public  is  one  which  should  be  taught  the  journalism  stu- 
dent at  every  stage  in  his  work.  Perliaps  as  many  newspaper  men  fail 
from  trying  to  be  too  obliging  as  those  who  tliink  brusqueness  a  necessity. 

"Newspaper  work  is  a  business  as  well  as  a  profession  and  it  is  the 
business  of  a  newspaper  to  make  money  or  it  cannot  practice  its  profes- 
sion. The  importance  of  paying  attention  to  the  phases  of  newspaper- 
making  which  can  be  made  to  yield  money  is  great  and  journalism  stu- 
dents should  be  shown  how  to  make  money  as  well  as  how  to  save  costs." 


148      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

R.  W.  Horn,  managing  editor  Daily  Argus-Leader,  Sioux  Falls,  South 
Dakota — "My  experience  has  not  been  wide,  but  it  has  been  practical,  and 
from  my  experience  and  observation  I  have  formed  several  opinions  re- 
garding the  training  of  newspaper  men.  I  started  in  a  small  town,  worked 
through  the  composing  room  into  the  editorial  room,  and  then  topped  off 
my  high  school  work  with  three  years  at  college.  Briefly,  I  believe  the 
kind  of  education  that  best  fits  one  for  newspaper  writing,  particularly 
news-gathering  and  reporting,  is  the  education  of  the  country  newspaper 
shop,  or  the  small  town  daily,  supplemented,  of  course,  by  as  much  college 
education  as  the  person  can  possibly  get,  circumstances  and  finances  con- 
sidered. Put  a  youth  into  a  small  newspaper  shop,  for  a  while  under  an 
exacting  foreman  and  then  under  a  capable  and  painstaking  editor,  and 
if  he  has  the  stuff  in  him  he  will  make  good.  But  the  more  foundation 
he  can  get  for  the  bigger  profession,  the  better.  He  must  also  have  the 
knack  of  making  friends  and  keeping  them,  and  all  the  other  attributes 
which  books  on  journalism  tell  about.  As  for  the  schools  of  journalism, 
they  are  excellent  in  my  opinion,  but  supplementary  to  the  more  prac- 
tical training  on  a  newspaper.'"' 


Max  Bentley,  managing  editor  Houston  Chronicle,  Houston,  Texas — 
"While  I  believe  off-hand  that  a  course  in  journalism  is  mighty  fine  prep- 
aration for  newspaper  work,  my  ideal  of  a  good  reporter  on  the  metropoli- 
tan sheet  is  the  chap  who  came  up  from  a  small  town  daily.  That  sort 
of  back-ground  spreads  out  before  his  thirsty  soul  the  panorama  of  news- 
paper making — in  miniature  of  course.  For  after  all,  the  way  we  do  it 
here  is  just  like  they  do  it  on  small  town  dailies,  except  there  is  more  of 
it.  I  always  give  preference  to  that  type  of  applicant.  He  comes  to  us 
ready  to  work  hard  and  he  has  a  general  drift  of  the  game  before  he 
ever  hangs  up  his  hat. 

"I  firmly  believe,  however,  that  the  prospective  newspaper  man  will 
lose  nothing  by  taking  a  regular  course  in  journalism.  The  general  run 
of  copy  sent  to  me  by  such  students  is  good,  and  a  few  of  them  apparently 
have  grasped  the  feature  idea.  I  believe  in  preparatory  work  for  any 
sort  of  profession.  A  lot  of  sloppy  work  goes  into  the  average  newspaper, 
and  especially  an  afternoon  paper,  and  I  believe  a  competent  course  in 
journalism  will  do  much  to  relieve  this  condition  in  knocking  off  the  rough 
edges  of  rhetoric,  spelling  and  construction  of  sentences.  I  have  thought 
that  it  might  have  the  effect  of  standardizing  the  student,  which  would 
injure  his  individuality  and  lessen  his  initiative,  but  I  have  never  yet  seen 
anything  to  justify  this  supposition.  After  all,  it  rests  on  the  human 
equation." 


W.  P.  Hobby,  former  Governor  of  Texas;  publisher  and  editor  Beau- 
mont Enterprise  and  Beaumont  Journal — "The  attributes  which  contribute 
to  the  success  of  a  news  reporter,  an  editor,  a  gatherer  of  news  facts  or 
the  writer  of  news  are  not  materially  different  from  the  attributes  which 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  149 

go  to  make  a  man  successful  in  any  other  business.  Up  to  a  certain  de- 
gree of  perfection  in  the  business  of  making  a  newspaper  the  elements  of 
success  are  fundamental.  These  may  be  defined  as  honesty,  ambition,  loyalty 
to  ideals,  energy,  courage,  industry,  fidelity  to  fact  and  common  sense.  Ob- 
viously these  are  elements  of  character  essential  to  success  in  any  important 
undertaking  but  particularly  in  the  making  of  a  newspaper  worker. 

"With  these  as  constituent  elements  success  and  achievement  mount  in 
proportion  to  the  number  of  qualifications  applicable  to  the  gathering 
and  writing  of  news  facts.  It  is  scarcely  necessary  to  enumerate  a  num- 
ber of  qualifications  essential  to  any  degree  of  success  in  newspaper  work, 
such  as  common  school  education  with  particular  application  to  grammar 
and  tlie  fundamentals  of  composition  and  rhetoric.  Unfortunately  for  the 
newspapers  of  this  country  there  is  not  enough  attention  given  to  correct 
writing.  Very  little  application  is  needed  to  perfect  anyone  in  the  art  or 
trade  of  writing  correctly.  Proper  construction,  proper  use  of  words,  a 
thorough  knowledge  and  high  respect  for  the  meaning  of  words  and 
phrases  are  essential  to  high  levels  in  newspaper  work. 

"Thus  far  we  have  roughly  outlined  the  essentials  to  make  a  news- 
paper man.  Anyone  meeting  with  these  qualifications  will  have  a  standing 
in  newspaper  work  anywhere.  Further  success  or  individual  advance- 
ment to  achievements  of  distinction  depend  upon  individual  characteristics 
or,  it  might  be  said,  peculiarities  or  exceptional  talents.  And  these  may 
be  as  varied  as  character  itself.  They  may  be  acquired  but  rarely.  But 
the  development  and  perfecting  of  particular  traits  is  limitless. 

"Excessive  development  of  some  characteristic  or  the  possession  of 
an  exceptional  talent  often  distinguishes  an  individual  to  the  extent  that 
the  lack  of  other  important  factors  is  forgiven.  A  young  man  may  be 
an  extraordinarily  successful  news  gatherer  but  utterly  incapable  of  put- 
ting the  result  of  his  work  into  fit  language.  Editors  will  tolerate  and 
encourage  him  for  the  one  thing  in  which  he  excels.  On  tlie  other  hand 
there  are  many  men  who  have  a  faculty  for  exquisite  writing  who  have 
no  faculty  whatever  for  gathering  news.  Here  again  a  place  is  found 
for  the  special  talent.  There  is  no  reason,  however,  why  each  of  these 
workers  may  not  acquire  the  thing  he  lacks  to  make  him  thoroughly  suc- 
cessful. 

"Generally  speaking  there  are  two  ways  of  training  men  for  the  news- 
paper profession.  First  is  the  hard  grind  of  experience.  More  successful 
newspaper  men  come  from  this  field  of  education,  but  very  likely  because 
there  are  more  entries  in  this  field.  The  second  method  is  through  the 
more  recently  established  schools  of  journalism. 

"Let  us  review  the  second  first  for  when  it  is  exhausted  all  the  rest 
that  may  be  said  applies  to  the  practical  school  of  experience.  It  is  too 
extreme  to  say  that  schools  of  journalism  are  not  needed.  If  a  hundred 
such  schools  turn  out  one  distinguished,  useful  and  successful  newspaper 
man  can  it  not  be  said  that  they  were  worth  while?  Certainly  those  who 
failed  have  not  failed  entirely.  The  decision  hinges  upon  a  measure  of 
the  cost,  energy  and  time  expended  compared  to  the  results  obtained.     I 


150       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

have  my  opinion  tliat  a  calculation  of  that  sort  would  show  the  schools  of 
journalism  not  without  justification.  But  a  number  of  such  schools  are  main- 
tained by  funds  provided  by  individuals  and  such  are  of  course  approved 
both  for  the  reason  that  the  expense  is  eliminated  to  that  extent  where  the 
general  good  accomplished  far  outweighs  the  cost. 

"To  my  mind  the  greatest  objection  to  offer  to  schools  of  journalism 
is  that  they  attract  to  the  newspaper  profession  a  large  number  who  are 
utterly  unsuited  and  wholly  incapable  of  ever  becoming  useful  in  the 
newspaper  field.  Of  course  this  is  true  of  every  technical  school  but  more 
applicable  to  journalism  than  the  others.  Mechanics,  civil  engineering, 
agriculture,  commercial  work,  science,  law,  medicine,  architecture,  clerical 
and  many  other  lines  of  industry  offer  a  fair  reward  for  anyone  even  mod- 
erately equipped,  while  the  newspaper  field  holds  little  inducement  for  the 
mediocre,   average  and  poorly  equipped  worker. 

"The  education  and  training  secured  in  a  journalistic  school  is  superior 
to  that  secured  in  a  newspaper  office.  It  rounds  out  a  man  by  developing 
the  weaker  factors.  It  creates  no  freaks  such  as  may  often  be  found  among 
graduates  from  a  newspaper  office.  In  the  long  run,  and  eliminating  or 
disregarding  waste,  the  schools  of  journalism  make  for  the  improving  and 
uplifting  of  newspapers.  In  the  schools  the  student  is  trained  along  ideal- 
istic lines.  Standard  work,  correct  writing,  high  ideals,  worthy  achieve- 
ments and  better  newspapers  are  the  objects  set  before  him.  In  a  news- 
paper office  he  is  fortunate  if  he  has  set  before  him  the  same  pattern. 

"As  I  said  before,  however,  if  not  more  than  ten  per  cent  of  the 
graduates  of  a  school  of  journalism  become  actual  newspaper  workers, 
their  existence  is  justified  because  the  others  have  been  benefited  and  per- 
haps fitted  to  follow  some  other  profession  more  suited  to  them.  The 
chief  objection  to  schools  of  journalism  is  the  diversion  of  the  youths  into 
this  field  who  are  fundamentally  not  suited  for  the  work  and  therefore 
doomed  to  failure  from  the  outset. 

"The  newspaper  office  as  a  school,  however,  puts  the  student  constantly 
to  test  and  one  rarely  goes  through  that  school  nor  wastes  much  time  at 
it  unless  he  is  suited  for  it.  Its  education  is,  however,  woefully  unbal- 
anced. It  develops  special  talents  to  utter  disregard  of  highly  necessary 
factors.  It  teaches  habits,  traits,  and  characteristics  which  are  undesir- 
able. Its  aim  is  not  the  development  of  the  highest  qualities  in  the  stu- 
dent, but  the  exploiting  of  the  chief  talent  of  the  student. 

"I  doubt  that  schools  of  journalism  will  ever  attain  tlae  standing  of 
medical  schools,  commercial  schools  and  other  technical  schools.  The 
profession  is  too  varied  to  make  such  schools  tlie  only  gateway  to  enter. 
Technical  knowledge  is  not  essential  to  newspaper  success,  hence  it  cannot 
be  the  only  avenue  to  enter  the  field. 

"The  kind  of  an  education  that  is  needed  to  make  a  thorough  newspaper 
man  is  not  different  from  the  education  needed  to  make  a  lawyer,  a  teacher, 
a  mercliant  or  any  other  professional  man  successful.  A  substantial  edu- 
cation back  of  experience  has  the  same  happy  results  for  newspaper  men 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  151 

as  for  any  other.  Every  newspaper  man  should  have  a  thorough  educa- 
tion. Without  it  a  special  talent  may  carry  him  through.  With  it  there 
is  no  limit  to  his  achievements.  But  to  education  the  newspaper  man 
must  add  accuracy  of  observation,  variety  of  knowledge,  infinite  informa- 
tion, tact,  absolute  fidelity  to  news  fact,  courage  without  taint  and  un- 
restrained ambition.  I  think  a  man  who  knows  something  about  every- 
thing is  a  better  newspaper  man  than  one  who  knows  everything  about 
something. 

"But  of  all  things  commendable  in  a  news  gatherer  and  news  writer  is 
his  loyalty  to  fact.  Once  he  departs  from  truth  there  is  no  rudder  to 
guide  him.  He  is  the  object  of  every  cross-wind  that  blows,  he  will  be 
carried  by  the  currents  to  unspeakable  disaster.  Truth  for  truth's  sake,  to 
report  the  fact  though  the  heavens  fall,  are  ideals  which  will  lead  on  to 
success  and  build  a  better  world,  make  better  men  and  women  and  enable 
every  newspaper  worker  to  leave  an  impress  upon  the  time  in  which  he 
lives." 


Robert  W.  Bentley,  managing  editor  Tampa  Morning  Tribune,  Tampa, 
Florida — '"My  experience  on  newspapers  covers  exactly  thirty  years.  As 
to  what  are  the  essentials  that  make  up  a  good  reporter,  volumes  might  be 
written.  But  if  a  man  has  these  things  in  his  makeup  he  should  make 
good : 

"A  fair  education — college  course  not  necessity,  but  of  course,  an  aid. 
He  must  be  able  to  write  plain  English  and  state  the  facts  of  his  story 
concisely.  Absolute  honesty  and  conscientious  regard  for  the  rights  of 
others.  The  ability  to  see  both  sides  of  the  case,  and  the  need  for  stating 
both  facts.  A  faculty  for  making  friends,  and  retaining  them.  Recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  news  sources  must  never  be  betrayed.  A  real  news- 
paperman will  go  to  jail  rather  than  disclose  a  source  of  information  if 
such  disclosure  will  make  that  source  of  information  any  trouble. 

"Discretion  in  the  matter  of  using  a  woman's  name  in  a  sensational 
case.  It  is  better  to  leave  it  out  than  to  visit  undeserved  punishment  on 
an  innocent  person.  The  ability  to  leave  one's  own  personality  out  of 
the  news.  All  news  should  be  written  dispassionately.  Of  course,  when 
a  man  is  writing  a  special  signed  article  his  personal  opinions  may  be  stated, 
but  only  as  such. 

"As  to  the  rest  of  it,  why  perhaps  'star'  reporters  are  born  rather  than 
made,  but  there  are  so  few  real  'stars.'  A  'nose  for  news,'  appreciation  of 
relative  values  in  news.  These  two  things  are  essentials.  Cliarles  A. 
Dana  once  stated  that  the  fact  that  a  dog  had  bitten  a  man  might  be  worth 
two  inches  of  space,  proivded  the  man  was  badly  chewed  up,  but  should  a 
man  bite  a  dog,  well  that  would  be  worth  a  quarter  column  or  more. 

"Journalistic  courses  in  college  are  helpful.  But  a  good  city  editor 
can  take  a  would-be  reporter  under  his  wing  and  teach  him  more  about 
newspaper  work  in  three  months  of  actual  labor  than  the  lad  could  learn 
in  as  many  years  in  a  college  of  journalism.     I  believe  the  best  place  for  a 


152       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

young   man  to   learn  newspaper   work  is  on  a  daily  paper    in  a  town  of 
25,000  or  less." 


Marvin  H.  Creager,  managing  editor  Milwaukee  Journal,  Milwaukee, 
Wisconsin — "I  believe  the  best  preparation  for  reportorial  work  is  very 
wide  reading  and  mixing  with  people  of  all  kinds.  It  is  rather  unusual 
that  a  person  has  a  trend  in  both  these  directions,  but  both  are  needed. 
The  bookworm,  who  buries  himself  in  pages  of  type,  cannot  get  the 
normal  reader's  viewpoint.  The  buzzing  sort  of  person,  who  is  a  mixer 
and  nothing  else,  rarely  can  light  long  enough  to  write.  Study  of  litera- 
ture, history,  sociology  and  psychology  is  of  highest  importance. 

"Schools  of  journalism,  I  believe,  are  of  greatest  value  in  preparing  stu- 
dents for  work  on  papers  in  small  cities  and  towns.  Much  is  being  done 
through  the  courses  to  standardize  'country  journalism'  and  it  was  greatly 
in  need  of  standardizing.  Beginners  often  are  left  to  their  own  guidance 
on  small  papers.  Journalism  courses  give  them  definite  ideas  of  what  to 
do.  The  need  of  journalism  courses  is  not  so  great  so  far  as  metropolitan 
papers  are  concerned,  but  my  observation  is  that,  other  things  being  equal, 
the  journalism  student  usually  gets  a  better  start  than  absolutely  raw  ma- 
terial.    It  is  not  always  true  that  he  holds  his  advantage  permanently.'" 


Robert  L.  O'Brien,  editor  Boston  Herald — "I  am  a  great  believer  in 
the  School  of  Journalism.  I  believe  it  a  necessary  evolution,  just  as  the 
law  school  succeeded  tlie  practice  of  reading  law  in  an  old  lawyer's  of- 
fice, and  the  medical  school  followed  the  practice  of  riding  around  in  the 
chaise  with  the  village  doctor.  Self  taught  is  ill  taught.  I  feel  sure  that 
the  Pulitzer  School  of  Journalism,  for  example,  is  giving  its  pupils  a 
training  which  is  much  worth  while,  and  as  an  evidence  of  my  faith  in 
it,  I  am  going  to  send  my  son  there  instead  of  letting  him  go  to  Harvard 
College,  where  the  ties  of  tradition  are  strong.  I  am  a  graduate  of 
Harvard  myself,  and  it  is  something  of  a  wrench  to  pull  my  boy  away 
from  there,  and  send  him  to  New  York;  but  such  is  my  purpose  because 
of   my   confidence   in   technical   newspaper   training." 


Donald  Sterling,  managing  editor  Oregon  Journal,  Portland,  Oregon — 
"I  believe  in  the  value  of  academic  training  for  newspaper  work.  The 
cardinal  principles  of  newspaper  writing  being  accuracy,  brevity  and  speed, 
a  mind  trained  in  resourcefulness  is  essential.  This  is  where  a  liberal 
arts  education  is  invaluable. 

"I  heartily  indorse  schools  of  journalism  on  the  theory  that,  as  has 
often  been  stated,  'nothing  is  born  but  a  damn  fool.'  Training  ever  is  worth 
while." 


Howard  K.  Regal,  managing  editor  Springfield  Republican,  Spring- 
field, Massachusetts — "What  I  have  to  say  I  am  putting  in  the  shape  of 
an  informal  letter,  which  you  may  use  in  any  way  you  see  fit.  I  am  sorry 
I  could  not   inclose   something  from   Solomon   B.  Griffin,    for   many  years 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  153 

managing  editor  of  The  Republican  and  one  of  the  men  who  gave  it 
character  and  prominence  among  the  newspapers  of  the  land.  I  could 
not  of  course  quote  Mr.  Griffin  as  to  schools  of  journalism,  but  it  is 
significant  that  he  is  a  member  of  the  governing  board  of  the  Pulitzer 
school  in  New  York.  I  should  have  liked  to  consult  him  but  he,  too,  is  out 
of  town. 

"The  Republican  during  my  twenty-five  years  service  with  it  has  until 
lately  drawn  for  its  staff  almost  wholly  from  the  colleges,  it  being  favor- 
ably located  in  the  midst  of  an  important  group  of  institutions,  botli  for 
men  and  women,  and  maintaining  pretty  close  relations  with  most  of  them. 
And  it  should  be  said  that  many  newspaper  men  have  come  straight  from 
college  to  The  Republican,  had  their  journalism  education  here  and  have 
made  their  mark  in  the  profession.  Further,  The  Republican  from  such 
sources  has  had  splendid  material  for  its  own  service,  and  if  conditions 
in  the  newspaper  business  had  remained  unchanged  I  would  say  that  for 
this  particular  field  nothing  could  be  better  than  to  be  able  to  have  the 
pick  of  earnest,  intelligent  college  men  who  would  get  their  training  in 
this  office.  For  such  men  it  is  a  matter  of  very  little  time  to  master 
newspaper  teclinic  and  to  absorb  the  higher  ideals  of  the  profession,  if, 
indeed,  they  are  not  already  embued  with  them  when  they  begin. 

"But  conditions  have  changed.  Newspaper  work  commands  relatively 
much  less  pay  than  it  did  formerly;  it  is  less  attractive  as  a  profession 
and  latterly  it  has  been  more  difficult  to  interest  first-class  men  in  it. 
What  the  next  year  or  two  may  develop  cannot  well  be  forecast,  but  I 
venture  to  say  that  unless  it  is  possible  to  pay  better  for  hard  work  well 
done  it  will  be  more  difficult  than  it  has  been  to  keep  the  journalist  ranks 
properly  recruited.  If  good  college  men  cannot  be  had,  neither  can  it  be 
expected  tliat  prospective  journalists  can  afford  to  go  to  special  schools 
for  long  courses  when  little  reward  is  promised  in  a  profession  that  offers 
relatively  few  prizes.  The  contact  the  Republican  has  had  with  graduates 
from  schools  of  journalism  has  been  almost  wholly  satisfactory.  They  are 
in  earnest  and  have  been  well  taught.  There  is  no  question  but  such  schools, 
or  college  courses  in  journalism,  do  give  instruction  of  practical  value. 
And  yet,  taking  purely  the  point  of  view  of  a  newspaper  situated  as  The 
Republican  is,  it  is  doubtful  if  there  is  much  advantage  in  taking  a  man 
or  woman  with  such  training  in  preference  to  one  with  a  good  college 
education.  It  would  be  easy  to  say  that  newspaper  men  are  born,  not 
made.  Character,  personality  and  talent  are  after  all  the  primary  factors. 
Technic  to  men  and  women  so  endowed  is  by  no  means  unimportant  but 
it  is  easily  conquered,  or  brilliant  successes  are  made  in  spite  of  imperfect 
technic.  The  most  important  function  of  any  school  of  journalism,  or  of 
any  college  course  in  journalism,  is  that  of  inspiration. 

"But  as  I  have  indicated,  what  might  be  practical  with  journalism 
raised  to  a  higher  level  of  material  prosperity  is  not  practical  now.  It 
would  be  delightful  to  contemplate  a  condition  which  would  permit  high 
specialization  on  top  of  a  thorough  collegiate  foundation ;  but  the  prac- 
tical  consideration   has    lately  been   how   to   secure   good   workers   at   pay 


154       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

which  does  not  permit  of  years  of  special  training.  My  view  of  the  prob- 
lem is  of  course  merely  my  own  and  naturally  is  narrow,  but  it  is  pos- 
sible that  there  are  a  good  many  newspapers  that  have  had  a  similar  ex- 
perience to  that  of  The  Republican.  I  should  be  very  much  interested  to 
know  the  results  of  your  investigation." 


W.  A.  Thayer,  managing  editor  New  York  American,  New  York — 
"Newspaper  men,  I  think  you  will  agree,  are  to  a  large  extent  born  and 
not  made.  The  born  newspaper  man  is  made  more  valuable  by  education 
in  all  lines.  Some  of  the  best  news-gatherers  that  have  come  under  my 
observation  have  graduated  from  the  office  boy  school,  with  little  school 
education.  Some  of  them  have  kept  on  as  good  news  gatherers  and  others, 
by  using  their  spare  moments  in  study,  have  added  to  their  news  gathering 
ability  to  write  well  and  thus  have  become  more  valuable. 

"The  schools  of  journalism  undoubtedly  are  needed.  Many  of  the 
graduates  from  such  schools  whom  I  have  known  never  would  become 
brilliant  newspaper  workers,  but  undoubtedly  they  came  to  the  newspaper 
office  better  equipped  to  earn  a  living  than  if  they  had  not  attended  the 
school." 


David  E.  W.  Williamson,  editor  Reno  Evening  Gazette,  Reno,  Nevada— 
"When  I  started,  thirty-five  years  ago,  the  best  equipped  reporters  were 
those  who  came  from  the  printer's  case,  but  the  enthusiasm  of  high  school 
boys  usually  overcame  the  handicap  of  lack  of  knowledge  of  how  to  handle 
a  story  and  prepare  copy.  We  had  few  men  from  the  colleges  then.  Those 
who  had  degrees  and  stayed  with  the  work  were  rapidly  promoted,  show- 
ing that  their  education  was  of  benefit  to  them.  It  is  no  longer  possible 
to  procure  reporters  from  the  composing  room,  the  high  schools  fail  to 
turn  out  boys  who  can  write  ordinary  English  and  the  colleges  do  not 
seem  to  be  able  to  make  their  graduates  understand  the  fact  that  enthusiasm 
must  be  tempered  by  regard  for  accuracy  and  the  law  of  libel.  I  have 
read  of  the  courses  in  journalism  provided  by  some  of  the  colleges,  and, 
while  it  has  not  been  my  good  fortune  to  watch  the  work  of  students  in 
such  classes,  it  is  very  clear  that  a  man  or  woman  trained  in  them  ought 
to  have  the  self-reliance  and  knowledge  of  what  to  do  that  the  majority 
of  present-day  candidates  for  newspaper  places  certainly  lack. 

"As  you  in  your  own  experience  doubtless  have  thought — sometimes  it 
seems  new  reporters  can  never  know  too  much  and  at  other  times  it  ap- 
pears that  better  results  would  be  attained  if  their  education  stopped  in 
the  schools  about  the  middle  of  the  high  school.  There  is  one  thing  on 
which  I  am  positive  and  it  is  that  if  the  courses  in  journalism  do  not  suc- 
ceed in  turning  out  newspaper  reporters  I  do  not  know  whence  they  are 
to  come,  for  there  are  no  longer  any  applicants  from  any  other  quarter  who 
are  capable  of  'being  licked  into  shape.'     That  is  the  discouraged  truth." 


George  W.  Dodds,  managing  editor  Spokesman-Review,  Spokane,  Wash- 
ington— "Our  experience  with  several  graduates  from  the  College  of  Jour- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  155 

nalisin  of  the  Washington  State  University  has  been  satisfactory.  We  have 
had  one  young  man  and  two  young  women,  and,  without  any  training  on 
our  part  they  took  up  their  duties  on  the  paper  and  handled  themselves 
equally  with  the  rest  of  tlie  staff.  Their  copy  was  good ;  well  written, 
and  required  less  editing  than  the  copy  written  by  many  old  time  news- 
paper men.  In  my  opinion  such  schools  are  needed ;  that  they  are  going 
to  have  a  great  influence  in  improving  the  class  of  newspaper  writers. 
The  best  kind  of  an  education  for  newspaper  writing  is  a  thorough  ground- 
ing in  the  English  language.  A  young  man  (or  a  young  woman)  thorough- 
ly equipped  in  the  use  of  his  native  tongue  is  possessed  with  something  that 
is  half  the  battle  of  life.  A  young  man  who  can  write  correctly,  speak 
correctly,  to  do  it  freely,  cannot  have  arrived  at  such  efficiency  without  side 
reading  and  deep  study.  He  is  cultured  and  can  talk  intelligently,  and  how 
important  that  is  in  mixing  with  and  meeting  people.  He  can  ask  an  in- 
telligent question ;  and  how  important  that  is  in  getting  the  right  sort  of 
answer. 

"Give  me  an  educated  young  man  (or  young  woman)  and  I  do  not 
worry  much  over  the  question  of  news  gathering.  Their  educational 
equipment  is  such  that  the  news  sense,  once  on  a  daily  paper,  is  quickly 
developed." 


Will  Owen  Jones,  managing  editor  Nebraska  State  Journal.  Lincoln, 
Nebraska — "So  long  as  present  day  tendencies  continue  in  newspapering 
it  is  needless  seriously  to  consider  preparation  for  entering  the  profession 
of  journalism.  The  writing  side  of  the  press  lias  become  a  mere  in- 
cident, a  side  issue,  in  the  publishing  game.  So  long  as  advertising  remains 
the  main  source  of  newspaper  income  and  so  long  as  space  is  bought  on 
the  basis  of  bulk  rather  than  quality  of  circulation,  the  editorial  department 
will  be  hopelessly  subordinate  to  the  business  office.  Schools  of  journal- 
ism are  needed  to  create  discriminating  newspaper  readers,  not  to  prepare 
young  people  for  a  profession  that  has  degenerated  into  a  badly  sweated 
trade." 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  comprehensive  paper  which  Mr. 
Hornaday  has  presented  deals,  of  course,  with  conditions  of 
journalistic  education  in  the  United  States.  It  was  not  intended, 
I  assume,  that  he  should  discuss  conditions  existing  outside  the 
United  States. 

I  ask  to  speak  next  a  product  of  schools  of  journalism  in  the 
United  States,  whom  we  have  heard  on  other  subjects  during 
our  meetings.  He  is  a  former  student  of  the  Pulitzer  School  of 
Journalism  and  of  the  School  of  Journalism,  University  of  Mis- 
souri. While  all  he  has  to  say  will  not  deal  directly  with  jour- 
nalistic education,  some  of  it  will  do  so.    I  present  to  you  Mr. 


156      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Hollington  K.  Tong  of  Peking,  China,  associate  editor  of  the 
Weekly  of  the  Far  East,  director  of  the  North  China  Star,  and 
representative  of  the  Peking  Daily  News,  the  Chinese  Press  in 
Peking  and  Tientsin,  and  the  Commercial  Press  of  Shanghai. 

MR.  TONG :  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  Dr.  Wil- 
liams could  not  have  arranged  this  afternoon's  program  more 
happily  than  to  call  me,  "a  product  of  two  American  schools  of 
journalism,"  to  follow  Mr.  Hornaday's  address.  The  subject  of 
my  address  is :  "An  Appeal  from  the  Republic  of  China  to  the 
Press  of  the  World." 

This  is  the  second  time  I  have  been  invited  to  speak  before 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World.  On  the  previous  occasion  in 
1915,  I  was  unable  to  accept  on  account  of  public  and  private 
reasons.  The  president  of  the  Congress,  at  whose  feet  I  studied 
journalism  a  decade  ago,  has  been  so  generous  as  to  invite  his 
Chinese  pupil  for  the  second  time  to  speak  to  fellow  craftsmen. 
Allow  me  to  express  my  deep  appreciation  of  the  hospitality  ex- 
tended by  the  Congress  in  this  way  to  the  son  of  a  race  that  has 
long  honored  the  profession  of  letters  and  that  is  now  learning 
to  honor  that  branch  of  literature  which  has  sent  its  representa- 
tives here  from  all  parts  of  the  earth.  I  take  the  invitation  not 
in  any  sense  as  a  personal  thing,  but  as  an  indication  that  the 
Congress  desired  to  honor  my  country.  I  assure  you  that  not 
merely  the  Chinese  delegation,  or  the  Chinese  press,  but  the 
Chinese  people,  as  well,  highly  appreciate  this  courtesy. 

The  choice  of  our  meeting  place,  to  the  Chinese,  is  the  most 
significant.  There  are  two  great  strategic  centers  in  the  world, 
Suez  and  the  spot  on  which  we  now  stand.  For  centuries  Suez 
stood  as  the  meeting  place  of  East  and  West  with  Constantinople 
in  alignment  with  it.  Along  that  line  of  "the  dawn  and  the  rising 
sun"  there  has  been  a  constant  impact  of  the  peoples  of  two 
hemispheres.  The  impact  has  often  been  fruitful  in  misunder- 
standing and  even  hatred  and  other  evil  passions.  A  famous 
line  sums  up  the  facts  of  the  past  in  the  form  of  a  prophecy  for 
the  future : 

"East  is  East  and  West  is  West 
And  ne'er  the  twain  shall  meet." 

Yet  there  is  more  poetry  than  truth  in  this  statement.  As  we 
look  back  through  history  we  find  many  examples  where  the 
East  and  West  have  met  in  hostile  clash,  but  even  in  their  ex- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  157 

change  of  blows  each  side  has  learned  something  from  the  other. 
For  the  mutual  misunderstanding,  ignorance  has  played  an  im- 
portant part ;  ignorance  varying  in  quality  from  that  due  to 
difference  of  language,  mode  of  life  and  general  customs  to  the 
bitter  religious,  race  and  commercial  antagonisms  that  make 
such  discouraging  black  pages  in  the  world  history,  even  of  most 
recent  times.  But  the  world  is  waking  rapidly  to  the  folly  of 
such  human  strife.  Even  backward  governments  are  now  being 
forced  by  their  own  people  to  disregard  the  prejudices  which 
spring  from  ignorance  and  to  follow  a  policy  of  enlightened  self 
interest  in  appreciation  of  the  interdependence  of  nations  as  well 
as  of  individuals. 

The  last  few  years  have  seen,  in  an  increasing  measure,  at- 
tempts to  remove  the  ignorance  on  the  part  of  one-half  the 
world  of  how  the  other  half  lives.  It  is  beginning  to  be  realized 
that  it  is  good  neither  for  men  nor  for  nations  to  live  alone. 
There  are  today  exchange  professors  between  the  several  coun- 
tries, international  parliamentary  gatherings,  race  congresses,  con- 
gresses of  religion,  international  organizations  for  the  communica- 
tion of  knowledge  in  the  scientific  and  legal  and  literary  fields, 
international  postal  unions,  international  radiotelegraphic  con- 
ventions, international  reciprocity  in  almost  every  sphere;  and  of 
all  these  organizations  this  World  Press  Congress  is  the  most 
significant.  Such  international  organizations  are  the  concrete 
expression  of  the  belief,  crystallized  in  a  French  proverb,  that 
to  understand  all  is  to  forgive  all,  and  where  there  is  complete 
forgiveness  there  can  be  no  ill  will.  A  full  understanding  means 
in  the  end  a  full  sympathy. 

In  the  practical,  everyday  rush  of  the  profession  to  which 
we  have  the  honor  to  belong,  there  is  little  opportunity  for  think- 
ing on  these  matters.  I  have  spoken  about  them  in  general 
terms,  but  undoubtedly  you  have  seen  the  trend  of  my  thoughts. 
I  appear  before  you  as  a  delegate  from  China,  and  it  is  of  China's 
importance  as  an  international  factor  that  I  would  speak  to  you, 
and  through  you,  to  the  peoples  of  the  West.  In  the  coming  in- 
ternational struggle,  China  is  bound  to  play  a  principal  part, 
either  for  good  or  for  evil,  if  that  struggle  is  not  prevented  by 
an  international  understanding.  Already  China  is  being  mentioned 
with  increasing  frequency  in  the  newspapers  of  all  quarters  of 


158       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  globe.  In  spite  of  this,  few  persons  in  the  West  realize  that 
the  Republic  of  China  is  as  big  as  the  United  States  of  America 
and  is  more  than  half  the  size  of  the  old  Russian  Empire.  And 
few  persons  know  that  when  they  dismiss  China  with  a  shrug  of 
the  shoulders,  they  are  condemning  one  quarter  of  the  human 
race  and  that  when  they  speak  of  the  Republic  of  China  they  are 
speaking  of  a  nation  of  four  hundred  and  twenty-five  millions 
of  people,  homogeneous  in  custom,  in  characteristics,  in  thought 
and  in  tradition ;  with  a  common  language  and  literature  living 
and  likely  to  live  forever;  residing  in  a  territory  which  no  other 
region  of  the  world  can  surpass  in  the  variety  of  its  natural 
riches;  and  just  entering  into  the  fulness  of  a  renewed  national 
life. 

China's  traditional  and  historical  greatness  may  hardly  con- 
stitute a  claim  to  the  attention  of  the  rapidly  moving  world  of 
today,  but  the  very  fact  of  the  existence  of  these  hundreds  of 
millions  of  people  who  are  making  rapid  progress  in  every  field 
of  human  endeavor  is  a  stupendous  thing  and  cannot  be  lightly 
ignored.  Unfortunately  China  has  been  ignored  in  the  past,  in 
the  very  recent  past.  Only  a  few  weeks  ago,  the  Prime  Minister 
of  a  Western  Power  spoke  on  the  problems  of  the  Pacific  which 
were  of  interest  to  Japan,  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States ; 
and  his  audience  had  to  remind  him  of  the  existence  of  China ! 
But  China  can  be  ignored  no  longer  even  if  the  human  equation 
were  left  alone.  For  this  is  the  beginning  of  the  Pacific  era.  The 
great  issues  of  the  future  will  be  Pacific  issues.  And  there  is 
no  Pacific  issue  in  which  China  is  not  concerned.  Immigration? 
The  Chinese  are  vitally  concerned.  Cable  communications?  The 
Chinese  have  a  vital  interest  there  too.  Strategic  questions? 
The  Chinese  are  not  a  naturally  militarist  nation,  but  they  must 
look  to  their  own  security.  Economic  considerations?  The  ex- 
ploitation of  China's  surplus  economic  wealth  offers  opportunities 
such  as  no  other  country  has  offered  or  can  offer.  In  these  later 
centuries  the  underlying  economic  motive  has  been  the  cause  of 
a  large  proportion  of  the  warfare  that  has  sucked  the  life-blood 
from  the  leading  nations.  There  is  hardly  a  single  Pacific  prob- 
lem that  is  not  potentially  a  cause  of  war  and  on  a  scale  that  the 
world  has  never  known,  and  in  which  China  is  not  involved. 

Inasmuch    as    China   is   important   in   an   international    sense 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  159 

from  the  viewpoint  of  her  numerical  strength  and  her  geograph- 
ical location  and  inasmuch  as  China  cannot  be  ignored  any  longer 
for  the  same  reason,  the  powerful  pressmen  of  the  world,  unless 
desirous  of  purposely  confining  themselves  within  the  limited 
sphere  of  activities  which  is  within  the  reach  of  their  eyes,  must 
get  better  acquainted  with  my  country  and  with  what  it  is  doing 
educationally,  economically,  journalistically,  politically,  socially 
and  even  in  the  development  of  one  national  feeling  and  one  na- 
tional sentiment  on  the  great  issues  of  the  day.  When  the  press 
world  has  acquired  an  intimate  knowledge  of  Chinese  aflFairs, 
the  world  at  large  will  be  even  more  ready  to  concede  China's 
international  importance,  either  for  peace  or  for  war,  and  by 
conceding  it,  may  minimize  the  possibilities  of  international  strife. 
For  this  reason,  I  urge  the  press  representatives  who  are  as- 
sembling here  and  who  are  controlling  the  world  opinion  to  get 
some  ideas  about  Chinese  afifairs  along  these  various  lines  as 
quickly  as  possible  in  order  that  the  West  may  be  better  informed 
thereon.  By  removing  ignorance,  you  kill  the  mother  of  nearly 
all  the  international  misunderstandings  and  bitternesses  between 
nations. 

First  of  all,  get  acquainted,  fellow  craftsmen,  with  China's 
educational  development.  In  spite  of  stringent  finances,  in  spite 
of  deep-rooted  conservatism,  and  in  spite  of  a  thousand  obstacles, 
the  Chinese  are  establishing  schools,  colleges  and  universities.  To 
these  institutions  of  learning  in  increasing  numbers  are  going  the 
boys  and  girls,  the  young  men  and  women  who  in  less  than  a 
decade  will  be  the  units  of  public  opinion  in  the  land.  Perhaps 
you  do  not  realize  how  quickly  they  are  learning.  Here  is  an 
illustration  of  the  speed  at  which  they  are  moving.  Next  to  the 
test  of  what  is  commonly  called  literacy  and  illiteracy,  one  of 
the  best  tests  of  progress  is  the  extent  to  which  a  nation  uses  the 
postoffice.  Ten  years  ago,  the  number  of  letters  and  parcels 
dealt  with  by  the  Chinese  postoffice  was  just  over  one  hundred 
million.  Last  year  it  was  over  seven  hundred  million.  The 
Chinese  of  today  are  availing  themselves  of  facilities  which  have 
a  distinct  and  broad  educational  value.  This  is  only  one  instance 
of  a  very  remarkable  movement. 

Then  try,  gentlemen,  to  learn  all  the  facts  about  China's  ec- 
onomic development  which  she  is  rapidly  undergoing.    The  meth- 


160      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

ods  of  co-operative  business  and  amalgamated  interest  that  have 
so  long  been  a  feature  of  Western  commercial  life  are  hastily 
making  way  in  the  land.  During  the  last  few  months,  for  in- 
stance, the  banking  institutions  of  the  country  have  realized  that 
their  interests  are  one  and  identical,  and  having  realized  it,  have 
taken  steps  to  enable  them  to  speak  with  a  single  voice.  Ap- 
preciative of  the  interdependence  of  all  finance,  whether  com- 
mercial or  national,  they  have  stepped  into  the  breach  by  the 
organization  of  a  Chinese  banking  consortium  to  support  the 
Government  in  its  great  financial  difficulties  and  to  supervise  the 
expenditure  of  public  funds.  When  a  great  French  banking  in- 
stitution in  China  recently  closed  its  doors,  at  least  temporarily, 
it  was  the  Chinese  banking  consortium  which  took  up  its  out- 
standing banknotes  at  par.  These  matters  are  common  enough 
in  the  West,  and  would  hardly  provoke  comment,  but  with  the 
Chinese  they  are  new.  At  present  these  collective  economic  ef- 
forts may  not  be  particularly  eflfective,  but  at  the  moment  ef- 
fectiveness is  of  minor  importance.  What  is  of  importance  is 
the  fact  that  the  Chinese  are  learning,  that  they  are  trying  to  fol- 
low in  the  footsteps  of  the  great  Occidental  peoples,  and  that 
they  have  recognized,  not  too  late  surely,  that  if  China  is  ever 
again  to  be  a  leading  figure  in  the  world's  council,  they  must  prac- 
tice what  has  been  so  sedulously  preached  to  them  for  a  hun- 
dred years.  They  are  learning  modern  commercial  methods  by 
practicing  them.  They  are  making  mistakes  it  is  true.  But  who 
does  not? 

Then  get  acquainted,  members  of  the  Congress,  with  the 
Chinese  progress  in  journalism.  No  efforts  are  being  spared  to 
spread  the  newspaper  press  throughout  the  country.  It  is  only 
ten  years  since  China  became  a  republic  and  practically  there 
was  no  scope  for  the  press  before  that  time.  Under  the  Empire 
Chinese  officialdom  considered  as  its  enemy  all  the  newspapers. 
They  were  subjected  to  the  severest  restrictions,  and  outside  the 
privileged  area  of  the  foreign  settlements  there  could  be  no 
liberty  for  them  whatsoever.  The  case  is  vastly  different  today. 
There  are  in  China  several  hundreds  of  newspapers,  and  rapid- 
ly increasing  numbers  of  magazines  of  instruction  and  enlight- 
ment.  It  is  safe  to  say  that  there  is  not  a  single  large  city  without 
its  local  newspapers.  Some  of  these  newspapers  in  the  Capitol 
and  at  Shanghai  have  a  circulation  that  is  nation-wide. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  161 

In  order  to  make  the  printed  word  more  accessible  to  the 
general  public,  the  press  has  adopted  an  easy  style  of  writing. 
The  Chinese  literature  for  centuries  has  been  stereotyped  in  form. 
Today  the  Chinese  are  deliberately  making  as  great  a  change  in 
their  literature  as  the  change  through  w^iich  English  literature 
passed  in  emerging  from  Latin.  It  would  hardly  be  an  exaggera- 
tion to  say  that  until  a  few  years  ago  the  only  Chinese  literature 
that  was  considered  worth  printing  was  written  in  a  style  as  unlike 
the  language  "under standed  of  the  people"  as  the  language  in  which 
the  philosophical  works  of  Bacon  were  written  is  to  the  news- 
paper English  today.  The  change  that  has  come  gradually  through 
several  centuries  in  English  is  being  effected  in  the  Chinese  pop- 
ular writing  under  the  leadership  of  the  press  with  remarkable 
rapidity.  Even  what  is  called  the  Chinese  spelHng  is  being  al- 
tered. The  mild  changes  that  you  understand  by  reformed  spell- 
ing are  quite  insignificant  compared  with  the  change  that  is 
being  made  in  China.  The  Chinese  are,  so  to  speak,  reducing 
their  alphabet  from  thousands  of  characters  to  forty.  In  this 
new  character  spelling,  books  are  being  published,  newspapers 
issued  and  pamphlets  printed  on  vital  subjects  such  as  health  and 
sanitation,  domestic  economy  and  thrift.  With  the  new  alphabet, 
even  ignorant  peasants  are  taught  to  read  in  a  few  weeks.  Thus 
living  literature  is  being  brought  within  the  reach  of  all,  and  in 
the  future,  newspaper  making  in  China  will  be  much  facilitated. 

A  special  feature  marking  the  development  of  Chinese  jour- 
nalism is  the  effort  of  the  educational  authorities  to  give  the 
needed  training  to  future  newspaper  men.  Several  projects  for 
the  establishment  of  schools  of  journalism  in  the  important  cities 
of  China  are  now  under  consideration.  It  is  certain  that  before 
long  these  projects  will  be  executed  in  response  to  the  popular 
demand.  In  the  meantime,  classes  in  journalism  and  in  adver- 
tising are  being  conducted  in  the  Peking  Government  Univer- 
sity, the  Peking  Union  University,  St.  John's  University,  the 
Communications  University  and  other  institutions  of  high  learn- 
ing. These  classes  are  popular  with  Chinese  young  men  who  are 
ambitious  to  learn  the  art  of  moulding  the  public  opinion.  At 
the  same  time,  Chinese  graduates  of  the  Schools  of  Journalism 
in  the  United  States  and  those  Chinese  who  have  had  foreign 
press  training  are  looked  up  to  by  all  classes  of  people  as  leaders 
11 


162       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

in  modern  newspaper  making.  The  professional  services  of 
foreign  pressmen  in  China  as  teachers  of  journalism  are  equally 
in  high  demand.  The  Finance  Editor  of  the  Weekly  of  the  Far 
East,  a  graduate  of  the  Missouri  School  of  Journalism,  is  spend- 
ing a  few  hours  a  week  to  teach  students  of  St.  John's  University 
to  be  newspaper  men.  An  invitation  has  been  extended  by  a 
Peking  University  to  another  member  of  the  same  Weekly,  also 
a  graduate  of  Missouri,  to  organize  a  school  of  journalism  in  the 
Chinese  Metropolis.  Lectures  from  foreign  and  Chinese  jour- 
nalists on  various  aspects  of  the  profession  are  highly  wel- 
comed. 

Then  turn  your  attention  for  a  brief  moment,  members  of  the 
Congress,  to  Chinese  political  affairs,  the  progress  of  which  is 
not  even  less  rapid.  She  is  now  a  republic,  and  there  are  many 
people  who  think  that  the  Republic  is  not  a  success.  China  is 
not  the  first  country  that  has  not  made  a  success  of  republicanism 
within  a  few  years.  There  are  some  countries  where  it  has  been 
necessary  to  make  two  or  three  attempts  before  a  stable  republic 
was  established.  And  these  countries  have  not  had  to  face  the 
difficulties  which  are  confronting  China  today.  Until  a  few  years 
ago,  what  was  the  political  condition  of  China?  Broadly,  it  was 
this :  politics,  administration,  law,  peace  and  war  were  the  busi- 
ness of  the  official  hierarchy.  The  people  had  no  concern  in 
them.  They  knew  nothing  about  them.  They  cared  nothing  for 
them.  The  only  problem  of  politics  that  they  understood  was 
the  problem  to  meet  such  taxes  as  were  justly  due  and  to  pre- 
vent the  collection  of  taxes  that  were  unjustly  imposed.  In  ac- 
tual practice,  the  latter  seldom  occurred,  for  even  the  bureau- 
cracy knew  that  if  taxes  mounted  unduly  high  the  people  would 
murmur,  and  from  murmuring  they  would  soon  pass  to  rebelling. 
Provided  that  taxation  was  not  increased  beyond  the  limits  that 
tradition  has  sanctioned,  the  people  at  large  had  no  interest  in  what 
in  other  lands  are  called  public  affairs.  Is  it  any  wonder  then  that 
with  the  coming  of  democratic  ideas  which  ultimately  means  an 
understanding  of  the  value  of  the  individual,  and  which  requires 
every  man  to  take  his  share  in  shaping  the  destinies  of  the  nation, 
there  should  at  first  be  hesitation  and  doubt  and  mistakes  and 
even  disasters?  The  difficulties  of  such  a  situation  are  tremen- 
dous, and  under  these  peculiar  circumstances  mistakes  and  even 
disasters  are  not  unpardonable. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  163 

While  passing  through  a  great  period  of  transition  or  trans- 
formation, the  Chinese  are  often  misunderstood.  I  would  say 
that  they  are  misrepresented,  were  it  not  that  the  word  suggests 
an  intention  to  deceive.  Already  the  peoples  in  the  West  do  not 
know  the  situation  in  China,  and  misrepresentation  enhances  their 
ignorance  of  Chinese  affairs.  Ignorance  leads  to  further  mis- 
understanding, and  the  Chinese  consequently  become  to  them 
a  puzzle.  But  they  are  no  more  puzzle  than  any  other  people. 
If  the  press  of  the  world  were  to  assist  China  in  the  enlighten- 
ment of  the  Occidental  peoples,  its  representatives  present  at  the 
Congress  should  also  have  some  correct  ideas  about  the  develop- 
ment of  a  national  feeling  in  China,  which  has  a  great  potentiality 
capable  of  making  and  unmaking  cabinets,  and  equally  capable 
of  directing  the  world's  movement  if  it  is  allowed  sufficient  time 
to  grow. 

Get  acquainted,  gentlemen,  then  with  the  growth  of  the 
Chinese  national  feeling  as  is  partly  shown  in  their  endeavor  to 
learn  self-government.  Up  to  ten  years  ago,  when  it  was  said 
in  the  newspapers  and  chancelleries  of  the  world  "what  will  China 
say  or  do?"  the  question  was  easy  to  answer,  because  "China" 
simply  meant  a  handful  of  officials  in  Peking  whose  ideas  on 
most  subjects  were  well  known,  whose  course  of  conduct  it  was 
fairly  easy  to  prognosticate,  and  whose  little  likes  and  dislikes 
were  as  easy  to  read  as  an  A-B-C  book.  But  today,  "China" 
means  a  very  different  thing.  It  means  an  awakening  people. 
It  means  a  rapidly  increasing  number  of  men  and  women  and  of 
boys  and  girls  who  are  taking  a  vital  interest  in  their  country, 
anxious  to  see  it  highly  regarded  in  the  family  of  nations  and 
therefore  jealous  of  its  honor  and  integrity,  and  who  are  estab- 
lishing those  institutions  wherein  the  peoples  of  the  West  have 
learned  self-government  through  many  generations.  Here  some 
are  serving  an  apprenticeship  for  self-government  on  a  much 
larger  scale,  and  their  fellow  citizens  are  preparing  themselves 
to  undertake  national  obligations  in  the  hundreds  of  local  coun- 
cils of  one  sort  or  another,  ranging  from  the  mere  village  coun- 
cil to  the  provincial  assembly,  entrusted  with  the  local  admin- 
istration. 

Many  of  these  new  men  and  women  are  equipped  more  with 
zeal   than   with   knowledge.      The   natural   consequence    is   that 


164      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

there  are  discordant  voices  among  themselves,  and  not  merely 
discordant  voices,  but  inconsistent  action,  and  even  something 
more  than  that ;  there  are  warring  factions.  But  the  fact  that 
there  are  warring  factions  does  not  differentiate  China  from. 
any  other  country  where  there  are  democratic  institutions  just 
emerging  from  the  superincumbent  mass  of  autocracy  and  in- 
crusted  tradition.  The  Chinese  have  not  yet  reached  such  a 
state  of  equilibrium  that  mere  votes  can  decide  an  issue.  The  old 
autocratic  spirit  still  survives.  The  old  trust  is  in  physical  force. 
To  physical  force  the  less  scrupulous  resort  without  hesitation. 
As  in  all  countries  the  only  answer  to  force  is  force,  human  na- 
ture being  what  it  is.  Against  this  spirit,  and  its  embodiment  in 
swollen  armies,  the  whole  nation  is  struggling;  and  in  the  end 
the  whole  nation  must  be  victorious. 

You  may  not  have  followed  recent  Chinese  history  closely, 
so  I  ask  you  to  take  my  word  for  it  that  one  after  another  those 
parties  in  China  that  have  sought  to  rule  by  the  sword  have  had 
to  give  way.  They  cannot,  shall  not,  always  be  svicceeded  by 
others  of  like  minds  with  themselves. 

There  will  come  an  end  to  them  some  time,  and  when  that 
time  conies  the  Chinese  revolution  will  be  complete.  Put  simply, 
the  explanation  of  present  day  conditions  in  China  is  that  the 
Chinese  revolution  is  not  yet  complete.  The  Chinese  are  in  a 
transition  stage. 

To  think  that  because  the  Chinese  have  their  domestic  dif- 
ferences they  are  also  divided  in  opinion  on  the  great  issues 
in  which  they  are  concerned  is  erroneous.  Domestic  differences 
there  are,  and  from  purely  accidental  circumstances  connected 
with  them  there  has  grown  up  the  expression  "North  and  South." 
There  is  a  certain  convenience  in  the  expression,  but  nothing 
more.  Northerners  and  southerners  want  the  same  thing,  are 
imbued  with  the  same  ideas  and  are  governed  by  the  same  national 
feeling.  Essentially  both  North  China  and  South  China  are 
alike.  It  happens,  however,  that  the  capitol  of  China  is  Peking, 
and  dissentients  from  the  policy  of  the  Peking  Government  nat- 
urally do  not  gather  in  Peking  but  at  some  place  outside.  They 
have  chosen  Canton  as  their  headquarters.  Had  it  happened  that 
Canton  were  the  Capitol  of  China,  it  is  quite  possible  tl)at  Peking 
would  have  been  the  rallying-point  of  the  dissentients.    Or,  if  the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  165 

Capital  had  been  in  the  West,  the  rallying-point  of  dissent  would 
have  been  in  the  East,  and  then  we  should  have  had  a  so-called 
division  into  East  and  West.  As  it  is,  there  are  among  the 
leaders  of  the  so-called  southerners  many  prominent  northerners, 
and  amongst  the  northerns  there  are  many  prominent  southerners. 
These  circumstances  are  accidental.  They  are  but  a  part  of  the 
symptoms  of  transition. 

Whatever  may  be  the  actual  differences  between  the  Chinese 
themselves,  there  is  but  one  national  sentiment  on  great  issues. 
On  practically  every  national  subject  there  is  general  agreement 
as  to  aim  and  intention.  The  sole  causes  of  disagreement  are  as 
to  method  and  manner,  a  subject  on  which  before  this  other  na- 
tions have  long  been  divided  but  have  ultimately  reached  a  set- 
tlement. And  if  there  is  a  general  concensus  of  opinion  on  the 
subjects  of  domestic  concern,  there  is  still  more  wholly  unani- 
mous opinion  on  all  matters  of  foreign  relations.  Take  the  case 
of  the  Versailles  Peace  Conference  for  example.  Both  the  North 
and  the  South  sent  to  that  international  tribunal  a  single  delega- 
tion and  that  delegation  acted  in  complete  harmony.  When  it 
was  known  that  the  decision  at  the  Conference  was  against 
China  there  was  a  nation-wide  indignation.  To  take  another  case. 
The  Chinese  both  in  North  and  South  China  are  looking  forward 
to  the  Pacific  Conference  at  Washington  to  lay  down  righteous 
and  just  lines  by  which  future  international  relations  across  the 
Pacific  are  to  be  governed.  They  jointly  feel  that  nothing  but 
good  can  come  of  such  a  conference  if  meeting  in  sincerity,  and 
they  believe  it  has  been  called  in  sincerity.  The  chances  of  mak- 
ing an  equitable  working  arrangement  would  be  enormously  en- 
hanced if  the  public  both  in  the  United  States  and  in  the  other  par- 
ticipating countries  were  better  informed  on  Chinese  affairs.  If 
there  is  sufficient  time  allowed  I  may  urge  the  gentlemen  present 
to  become  acquainted  with  the  present  social  movement  in  China 
and  with  the  development  of  a  new  culture  by  the  combination  and 
amalgamation  of  Occidental  and  Oriental  civilizations. 

Get  acquainted  with  all  the  facts  and  much  more  about  China, 
and  you  will  help  the  world  to  know  her  and  to  remove  interna- 
tional misunderstanding,  the  root  of  all  the  wars  in  the  past.  I 
take  it  that  the  first  function  of  the  press  is  to  supply  news,  to 
purvey  information,  and  that  the  second  is  to  endeavor  to  direct 


166       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  minds  of  men  in  such  a  way  as  to  enable  them  to  reach  true 
and  dependable  judgments  on  the  issues  of  the  moment.  With- 
out accurate  information  on  Chinese  affairs,  the  faithful  per- 
formance of  these  two  functions  of  the  press,  so  far  as  China 
is  concerned,  is  an  impossibility.  And  yet  it  is  important  to 
know  China  correctly. 

On  behalf  of  my  country,  I  urge  you  to  ask  yourselves  whether 
you  are  well  equipped  for  guiding  the  world  on  the  great  prob- 
lems that  must  arise  on  the  Pacific  within  the  next  few  years. 
The  only  way  to  avoid  a  disaster  of  unimaginable  magnitude  con- 
sequent upon  the  arising  of  these  problems  is  for  the  journalists 
to  see  to  it,  not  merely  that  justice  is  done,  but  that  those  to 
whom  it  is  done  feel  that  they  have  had  justice  done  to  them. 
This  can  be  secured  only  by  the  development  of  a  well  informed 
public  opinion  throughout  the  world.  The  existence  of  such  a 
world  opinion  is  impossible  unless  the  man  behind  the  news- 
paper, who  writes  its  editorials  and  collects  its  news,  is  thor- 
oughly equipped  for  his  task.  The  work  we  do,  I  take  it  for 
granted,  is  honest  work,  that  is  to  say,  that  we  are  not  conscien- 
tiously writing  to  order,  but  honesty  alone  is  not  enough ;  to  our 
honesty  or  perhaps  in  our  honesty,  we  should  add  or  have  the 
fundamental  basic  facts  that  are  the  truth.  No  man  can  discuss 
the  affairs  of  the  Pacific  adequately  or  can  consider  himself  as 
well  equipped  for  the  task  unless  he  has  some  real  knowledge 
of  China. 

When  a  soldier  wants  to  understand  the  tactical  problems 
before  him  he  gets  the  best  map  he  can.  He  studies  its  depres- 
sions and  elevations,  its  contours  and  its  characteristic  signs. 
He  notes  every  bridge,  every  ford,  every  railway  crossing. 
Gradients  are  of  the  utmost  importance  to  him.  He  spares  no 
pains  to  understand  the  whole  character  of  the  country.  Surely 
it  is  not  too  much  to  expect  that  a  man  who  aspires  to  have  some 
share  in  controlling  the  destiny  of  mankind — and  every  journalist 
in  his  heart  really  believes  that  the  greatest  factor  in  controlling 
that  destiny  is  himself — should  have  some  solid  acquaintance 
with  the  ideas,  the  mode  of  life,  the  ambitions  and  manifold  dis- 
appointments of  a  people  constituting  a  quarter  of  the  human 


race 


I  do  not  think  that  anybody  can  withstand  the  plea  I  have 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  167 

made  that  the  pressmen  of  the  world  should  know  China.  It 
only  remains  for  me  to  point  out  some  of  the  ways  whereby  they 
may  have  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  Chinese  affairs.  The 
best  way  is  to  go  over  to  my  country,  make  a  detailed  study  of 
its  activities,  and  live  among  the  people  for  some  time.  There  is 
nothing  like  seeing  the  country  for  yourselves.  If  a  long  stay 
is  not  possible,  a  few  months'  visit  should  be  made,  and  it  would 
be  of  mutual  benefit.  The  traveling  facilities  in  China  and  across 
the  Pacific  are  greatly  advanced  today  over  those  that  offered 
themselves  twenty  years  ago.  In  normal  times,  a  trip  to  China, 
either  from  America  or  from  Europe,  is  only  a  matter  of  a 
summer  holiday. 

True  it  is  that  the  short  time  available  from  a  summer  holiday 
will  not  suffice  to  make  any  man  posted  on  Chinese  affairs,  but 
I  do  not  forget  that  I  am  speaking  to  the  representatives  of  the 
great  newspaper  world,  and  that  if  there  is  one  thing  that  the 
trained  newspaper  man  can  do  supremely  well,  it  is  to  get  to  the 
heart  of  a  situation,  to  size  it  up  in  the  shortest  possible  space 
of  time.  The  soldier  reads  the  map  and  he  plans  his  next  move. 
In  the  same  way  the  journalist  explores  a  situation  and  gets  in 
a  short  space  of  time  its  salient  feature  and  is  able  to  expound 
it  to  others ;  so  that  if  the  trained  journalist  has  only  a  few  weeks 
or  a  few  months  to  spend  with  the  Chinese  he  ought  to  leave 
them  at  least  with  a  true  perspective,  and  we  hope  that  he  would 
take  with  him  a  pleasant  remembrance  of  his  sojourn  to  China. 
That  of  course  will  be  "up  to"  us. 

The  influence  that  the  trained  observer  who  is  in  China  for 
a  few  weeks  or  for  a  few  months  can  exert,  however,  is  great. 
An  illustration  of  this  may  be  given  in  the  case  of  Mr.  Samuel 
Blythe,  who  happened  to  be  in  China,  as  all  good  journalists  are, 
just  at  the  critical  moment.  He  was  in  my  country  during  those 
momentous  weeks  in  1915  and  his  correspondence  to  the  Satur- 
day Evening  Post  was  of  immense  value  in  informing  the  Ameri- 
can public  of  what  the  real  situation  was.  At  a  later  day  came 
Monsieur  Dubosqu,  foreign  editor  of  Le  Temps,  who  during 
his  visit  to  China  a  couple  of  years  ago,  contributed  to  his 
newspaper  a  series  of  articles  that  has  been  of  incalculable  value 
in  cementing  an  entente  cordiale  between  France  and  China.  We 
hope,  and  we  think  that  there  is  no  doubt,  that  the  forthcoming 


168       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

visit  of  Lord  Northcliffe  to  the  Far  East  and  especially  to  China 
will  serve  a  similar  purpose. 

It  may  be  well  to  put  in  a  caution  here.  Not  a  few  of  the 
misunderstandings  of  China  have  arisen  from  the  erroneous  re- 
ports and  messages  conveyed  either  by  the  casual  and  superficial 
visitors,  or  by  the  journalists  who  spend  the  whole  of  their  time 
as  most  of  the  globe-trotters  do,  in  the  treaty  ports,  or  in  one 
city.  These  people  get  only  a  very  limited  view  of  China  and 
their  words  must  be  taken  with  the  greatest  caution.  They  no 
doubt  mean  well  but  in  one  case  they  are  not  trained  observers 
and  in  the  other  case  their  outlook  is  limited. 

The  second  best  way  of  knowing  China  is  to  send  more  cor- 
respondents to  her  metropolis  or  her  large  cities  or  to  travel  in 
the  country  extensively.  Materials  for  big  stories  of  human 
interest  are  abundant  over  there.  Some  of  the  foreign  press  men 
who  have  already  been  in  China  are  either  not  enterprising 
enough  or  do  not  receive  sufficient  encouragement  to  collect  them 
and  write  them  up  in  presentable  form  for  the  information  of  the 
West.  Even  the  news  of  so  important  a  discovery  as  the  discovery 
through  an  earthquake  and  landsliding  of  a  city  in  Kansu  which, 
together  with  its  inhabitants  was  buried  in  the  ground  many  cen- 
turies ago  without  any  warning  like  Pompeii  of  old,  does  not  offer 
enough  inducement  to  any  of  them  to  take  a  trip  to  that  spot,  make 
an  investigation  and  write  a  feature  story  in  the  interest  of  science. 
I  urge  the  representatives  of  the  great  newspapers  and  news 
agencies  to  send  more  trained  pressmen  to  write  more  about 
China  and  create  a  greater  interest  in  that  country  in  America 
and  Europe. 

If  the  powerful  Occidental  newspapers  and  news  agencies 
do  send  men  to  China,  I  hope  that  they  will  take  precaution  in 
their  selection.  Would  they  ever  think  of  sending  to  Germany 
a  correspondent  who  does  not  know  something  of  the  German 
language,  German  history  and  German  thought ;  or  to  France  a 
man  who  perhaps  is  not  simply  ignorant  of  the  French  language 
and  literature,  of  French  history  and  ideals,  but  who  despises 
them?  That  is  more  or  less  what  they  do  when  they  send  men 
to  China.  Some  of  their  men,  besides  being  not  sufficiently  well 
equipped  with  the  necessary  training,  know  nothing,  when  they 
go  to  the  Chinese,  of  the  Chinese  language,  literature  or  history. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  169 

As  a  rule  they  make  no  attempt  to  learn  any  of  them.  The  in- 
evitable result  is  failure  to  appreciate  the  real  significance  of  much 
that  goes  on  around  them,  with  the  still  further  result  that  the 
world  is  misled,  instead  of  being  informed.  I  plead  with  the 
Western  newspapers  and  news  agencies  to  send  to  China  highly 
trained  journalists  who  will  make  at  least  some  attempt  to  get  in 
touch  with  the  real  life  and  thought  of  our  people. 

Unfortunately  there  are  so  many  bad  examples  in  the  world. 
When  a  statesman  can  go  to  the  Paris  Conference  without  hav- 
ing ever  heard  of  Teschen,  confessedly  ignorant  of  the  existence 
of  a  place  called  Shantung,  believing  that  Mt.  Blanc  is  in  Switzer- 
land, a  mere  journalist  can  hardly  be  blamed  for  ignorance  of  the 
details  of  the  country  to  which  he  is  sent.  But  his  proprietor  is 
blameworthy  for  sending  him,  except  with  the  injunction  that 
he  is  really  to  get  to  know  the  country,  its  language,  its  history, 
its  people  and  its  ideals.  You  may  say  that  in  the  case  of  China 
this  is  impossible.  Not  impossible,  but  a  little  difficult  I  grant 
you.  Yet,  not  as  difficult  as  it  used  to  be.  The  helps  to  the  study 
of  the  Chinese  language  are  today  so  many  and  so  admirable 
that  the  comparatively  young  man  who  has  been  six  months  in 
the  country  has  no  excuse  for  lack  of  acquaintance  with  more 
than  sufficient  Chinese  to  carry  him  along.  To  the  aspiring  jour- 
nalist China  offers  a  magnificent  field,  a  field  worthy  of  a  Dana 
or  a  Bennett,  of  a  De  Blowitz  or  a  Dillon.  The  late  Dr.  Morrison 
established  a  great  tradition  in  spite  of  obstacles  many  of  which 
have  disappeared  today.  It  remains  for  his  successors,  present  or 
prospective,  to  emulate  his  important  work,  which  certainly  led 
to  a  better  understanding  of  China  in  London,  and  indirectly 
throughout  the  world. 

Another  way  of  knowing  China  and  getting  at  her  point  of 
view  is  to  converse  with  those  who  really  understand  China,  of 
whom  there  are  far  more  available  now  than  is  generally  thought. 
Men  like  Professor  John  Dewey,  of  Columbia  University,  who 
has  had  a  really  close  knowledge  of  Chinese  affairs,  are  not  lack- 
ing. There  are  furthermore  thousands  of  Chinese  students 
studying  in  your  countries  who  are  quite  able  to  give  correct  in- 
formation on  China.  They  are  outspoken  and  frank.  They 
would  not  hesitate  to  point  out  Chinese  shortcomings  as  well  as  to 
praise  Chinese  virtues.     They  are  always  available  for  informa- 


170       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

tion.  Then  there  are  missionaries  who  have  retired  after  years 
of  service  in  China,  or  merchants  and  officials  who  have  stayed 
in  China  for  a  long  period  of  time.  By  intercourse  with  them  it 
is  possible  to  get  at  China's  viewpoint. 

Once  sufficient  interest  in  China  has  been  created  in  the  con- 
tinents other  than  Asia  and  once  China's  importance  as  an  inter- 
national factor  has  been  made  generally  known,  the  pressmen  of 
the  world,  I  believe,  would  be  eager  to  go  to  my  country  and 
study  its  manifold  activities,  or  to  converse  with  those  who 
really  know  China  in  order  to  get  first  hand  information  thereon, 
and  the  great  Western  newspapers  and  news  agencies  would  find 
it  a  necessity  and  not  a  luxury  to  station  more  correspondents  in 
large  Chinese  cities.  As  one  of  the  means  to  create  that  initial 
interest  in  China,  I  propose  the  exchange  of  newspaper  men  be- 
tween the  countries  which  are  participating  in  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  world.  The  institution  of  exchange  professors  for  the 
communication  of  knowledge  between  countries  in  the  scientific 
and  literary  fields  has  proved  a  success.  Why  not  interchange 
newspapermen  between  China  and  America,  between  China  and 
Great  Britain,  between  China  and  Japan,  between  China  and 
France  and  other  countries?  If  there  is  any  measure  which  will 
insure  a  better  international  understanding,  certainly  the  ex- 
change of  newspapermen  will  be  one.  Both  the  Chinese  people 
and  Chinese  officials  will  give  to  the  proposal  all  the  support  and 
encouragement  they  can  within  their  power. 

On  the  eve  of  my  departure  for  Honolulu  last  month,  I  saw 
the  leading  members  of  the  Ministry  of  Communications  at 
Peking  and  told  them  of  my  exchange  newspaperman  idea.  They 
readily  expressed  their  willingness  to  assist  in  putting  it  into 
eflfect.  Mr.  Hsu  Shih-shwang,  Vice-Minister  of  Communications, 
a  brother  of  the  President  of  China,  was  most  enthusiastic  over 
my  proposition.  One  day  before  leaving  Peking,  I  received  an 
official  letter  from  the  Ministry  of  Communications  informing 
me  that  if  the  proposal  can  be  adopted  at  the  Press  Congress  of 
the  World,  the  Ministry  would  be  very  glad  to  offer  in  advance 
to  such  exchange  newspapermen  who  may  go  to  China  from 
America  and  other  continents  the  privileges  of  free  transportation 
and  traveling  on  all  the  Chinese  Government  railways  and  the 
friendly  assistance  of  communications  authorities  wherever  they 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  171 

would  like  to  go  in  my  country.  I  hope  that  before  the  present 
session  of  the  Congress  adjourns,  it  will  consider  the  advisa- 
bility of  the  proposal  and  some  action  will  be  taken.  China  wel- 
comes the  suggestion  because  she  will  be  better  known  to  the 
world  and  the  world  will  be  better  known  to  her  if  it  can  be  car- 
ried out. 

While  endeavoring  to  know  China  by  various  means,  you 
should  look  out  for  propaganda  which  may  now  be  insidiously 
moulding  your  opinions  in  a  wrong  direction.  You  know  too  well 
the  various  forms  such  propaganda  assumes,  but  you  may  not  be 
aware  of  its  effectiveness,  which  is  often  overlooked.  Let  me 
give  an  instance  to  illustrate  my  point. 

A  few  years  ago  a  momentous  event  occurred  in  China,  and 
this  was  big  news.  The  Peking  correspondent  of  a  great 
Western  news  agency  was  the  first  man  to  get  it.  After  verifying 
the  information  he  quickly  cabled  it  to  his  headquarters  in  his 
own  country.  His  chief,  after  keeping  back  this  important  mes- 
sage for  three  days  from  the  public,  made  some  inquiry  in  his 
national  capital  and  was  told  that  there  was  no  truth  in  the  Peking 
report.  Then  he  cabled  a  query  to  his  correspondent  as  to  whether 
the  information  in  question  was  really  authentic.  The  reply  he 
got  from  Peking  was  to  this  effect.  "Why  do  you  doubt  my 
words?  Have  I  ever  turned  in  any  false  news?"  Then  the  reply 
concluded  with  a  request  for  the  acceptance  of  his  resignation 
which  his  chief  granted  without  a  word  of  explanation  a  few 
months  later.  At  that  moment  this  unusual  case  was  known  to 
three  persons  only,  namely,  the  disappointed  correspondent,  his 
ungrateful  chief  and  myself.  Even  today  it  is  known  to  a  small 
circle  of  newspapermen  in  China.  The  instance  shows,  firstly,  the 
effectiveness  of  propaganda,  and  secondly,  the  public  ignorance 
of  its  effectiveness. 

Last  week  on  my  way  to  Honolulu  across  the  Pacific,  I  heard 
of  a  similar  instance  which  had  happened  in  Russia.  The  narra- 
tor of  it  is  a  man  of  integrity.  This  is  what  he  told  me  in  his 
own  words:  In  the  winter  of  1919  the  Czecho  troops  in  Russia 
were  highly  dissatisfied  with  the  Kolchak  Government,  and  their 
Minister  issued  a  statement  explaining  why  they  had  been  oppos- 
ing it.  A  translation  of  the  statement  was  given  to  a  representa- 
tive  of   a  leading  Western  news   agency   and   was   immediately 


172       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

cabled  to  New  York.  The  press  correspondent  congratulated 
himself  upon  having  obtained  so  important  a  news  item.  A  few 
months  later,  to  his  disappointment  he  received  a  copy  of  a 
leading  New  York  weekly  in  which  was  pviblished  an  editorial 
sounding  to  him  a  note  of  warning  for  sending  an  untrue  state- 
ment. So  strong  had  the  propaganda  in  the  United  States  been 
in  favor  of  Kolchak  that  the  editor  of  that  weekly  refused  to 
believe  that  the  Czechos  Minister  had  ever  denounced  the  Omsk 
Government.  The  statement  concerned  was,  however,  entirely 
true.  I  have  in  my  possession  the  original  signed  copy  which 
was  supplied  to  me  as  a  representative  on  the  Inter-Allied  Com- 
mittee. The  world  has  since  learned  that  all  which  the  Czechos 
had  said  in  that  statement  was  absolutely  authentic.  Beware  of 
the  propaganda  and  its  effectiveness  in  your  attempt  to  under- 
stand China. 

But,  you  will  ask  me,  "Why  do  you  warn  us  against  prop- 
aganda? Why  do  you  wish  us  to  make  China  known  to  the 
world?  Why  not  do  so  yourselves?"  The  answer  is  simple; 
there  are  not  enough  of  us  for  one  thing,  and  the  world's  knowl- 
edge of  China  must  come  from  impartial  sources  for  another. 
The  number  of  Chinese  journalists  capable  of  representing  China 
at  the  world's  capitals  is  small  at  present.  We  are  doing  what 
we  can,  but  it  is  not  enough,  not  merely  to  satisfy  our  desire  that 
the  world  should  know  us  better  but  to  keep  the  world  so  in- 
formed of  the  Chinese  situation  so  that  it  can  form  true  judg- 
ments thereon.  Frankly  we  are  appealing  to  you  for  your  co- 
operation, your  assistance,  your  practical  sympathy.  We  do  not 
doubt  we  shall  get  it  in  every  shape  and  form.  We  are  appeal- 
ing to  the  highest  instincts  of  the  profession  that  your  co-opera- 
tion will  be  cordially  given  not  because  of  any  incidental  material 
benefit  to  yourselves,  but  in  the  interest  of  the  world-wide  har- 
mony. 

We  meet  here,  as  I  have  said  at  the  beginning  of  my  address, 
not  only  at  the  second  great  strategic  point  on  the  earth's  surface, 
but  at  a  crucial  time  in  the  world's  history.  Here  we  are  at  the 
crossroads  of  the  Pacific,  an  ocean  well  named,  if  its  past  history 
alone  be  taken  into  account.  Seldom  have  the  waves  of  this 
ocean  borne  on  their  crests  the  sounds  of  hostile  guns ;  its  sur- 
face has  ever  been  almost  as  free  from  the  noise  of  men's  dis- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  173 

cordant  strife  as  its  depths  are  free  from  the  wreckage  of  war. 
The  future,  however,  may  not  be  as  pacific  as  the  past  has  been. 
But  let  us  hope  that  we  are  entering  on  an  era  that  will  be  pacific 
not  merely  geographically  but  historically  as  well.  Time  alone 
can  tell  whether  that  is  to  be  so  or  not,  but  of  this  I  am  certain, 
that  to  nobody  does  greater  responsibility  for  that  future  attach 
itself  than  does  it  to  the  important  profession  that  is  here  repre- 
sented. It  largely  depends  upon  the  honesty,  the  devotion  and 
the  highmindedness  of  those  whom  this  gathering  so  amply  repre- 
sents whether  the  future  is  to  be  one  of  worldwide  progress  and 
development,  or  is  to  be  one  of  renewed  strife,  or  worldwide 
chaos,  or  the  perdition  of  all  civilizations.  Here  we  stand  at  the 
second  meeting  place  of  East  and  West,  at  a  critical  moment  of 
the  world's  history.  With  the  memory  of  a  recent  great  inter- 
national calamity  still  vivid  in  our  minds,  we  must  all  strive  to 
avoid  a  second  similar  world  catastrophe.  Very  largely  indeed 
the  future  rests  with  us.  Wnat  are  we  going  to  make  of  it? 
(Loud  and  prolonged  applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN  :  Your  close  attention  and  cordial  applause 
indicates  I  think  that  you  believe  Mr.  Tong  has  made  a  real  con- 
tribution to  the  program  of  this  session.  We  have  had  today 
representatives  of  several  nations  and  no  more  important  con- 
tribution has  been  made  than  that  we  have  just  heard  from  the 
Republic  of  China  by  a  Chinese  journalist.  Now,  if  we  can  come 
back  again  on  the  questions  presented  by  Mr.  Tong  to  the  sub- 
ject presented  by  Mr.  Hornaday,  we  will  devote  the  last  part  of 
the  afternoon  session  to  some  further  consideration  of  questions 
of  journalistic  education.  I  am  confident  you  will  be  pleased  to 
hear  on  this  subject  from  delegates  from  the  countries  in  which 
movements  and  endeavors  towards  larger  preparation  for  journal- 
ism is  being  made. 

MR.  C.  L.  DOTSON:  Mr.  President:  I  would  like  to  note 
approval  upon  the  paper  presented  by  Mr.  Hornaday  if  it  is 
proper  at  this  time. 

Certainly  I  have  no  criticism  to  offer.  The  only  question  in 
my  mind  is  whether  he  carried  out  as  fully  as  he  should  have 
done  his  arguments  in  behalf  of  the  schools  for  journalism.  I 
am  impressed  with  the  thought  after  hearing  his  excellent  paper, 


174       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

that  if  schools  of  journaHsm  mean  anything  of  value  to  the  pub- 
lishers of  newspapers,  it  means  more  than  the  simple  preparation 
of  the  young  man  or  young  woman  for  reportorial  duty.  The 
young  man  who  attends  one  of  these  schools  and  takes  a  two 
year  college  or  university  course  and  then  two  years  more  of 
journalistic  work,  if  he  has  not  become  inspired  with  that  that 
we  call  ideals,  then  to  me  it  is  of  little  value  whatever  he  may 
have  accomplished. 

The  standard  of  newspapers  throughout  America  certainly 
should  be  raised,  and  to  my  mind  the  young  man  who  comes 
out  from  one  of  these  schools  of  journalism  comes  out  with  a 
higher  conception  of  the  duties  of  a  reporter,  an  editorial  writer, 
or  an  advertising  writer,  than  would  be  possible  for  any  young 
man  to  hold  who  had  not  received  such  educational  and  journal- 
istic training. 

If  I  were  to  criticize  Mr.  Hornaday's  paper,  it  would  be  that 
he  failed  to  point  out  the  fact  that  not  only  is  the  young  man 
fitted  to  chronicle  events  but  he  is  fitted  for  editorial  duty  be- 
cause of  his  higher  conception  of  the  profession,  and  because  he 
is  also  fitted,  if  he  doesn't  care  to  devote  his  time  to  the  editorial 
department,  and  sees  greater  opportunity  in  the  advertising  de- 
partment for  the  work  of  an  accomplished  ad  writer  because  of 
his  ability  to  put  intelligence  into  advertising.  The  day  is  passed 
when  an  advertisement  to  sell  merchandise  attracts  the  buyer  on 
account  of  the  attractiveness  of  its  display.  Words  thrown  to- 
gether and  simply  made  attractive  by  the  display  no  longer  is 
the  kind  of  advertisement  that  sells  the  merchandise  for  the  ex- 
tensive advertiser.  Intelligence,  ability  to  word  the  advertising 
in  a  way  that  catches  and  holds  the  eye  and  the  mind,  and  im- 
presses the  reader  with  the  force  of  the  writer,  are  required  of  the 
advertising  writer  who  is  sought  by  the  greatest  advertising 
journals  today. 

If  the  school  of  journalism  fails  in  this  respect  to  inspire  its 
students  to  a  higher  estimate  and  to  impress  the  students  with 
qualities  and  character,  then,  to  my  mind,  these  schools  of  jour- 
nalism are  so  many  failures. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Chair  will  be  pleased  to  hear  from 
Mr.  Mark  Cohen,  Chairman  of  the  New  Zealand  delegation.  In 
New  Zealand  recently  Mr.  Robert  Bell,  whose  letter  you  have 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  175 

heard  read  this  afternoon,  who  by  the  way  made  the  first  motion 
for  the  estabHshment  of  this  congress,  has  estabHshed  a  Chair  of 
journaHsm  in  Canterbury  College  in  New  Zealand  in  memory  of 
his  son  who  lost  his  life  in  the  World  War.  I  would  very  much 
like  to  hear  from  Mr.  Cohen. 

MR.  MARK  COHEN.  Mr.  Chairman,  brother  delegates :  It 
gives  me  very  great  pleasure  to  answer  the  call  of  the  Chair  to 
say  a  few  words  in  respect  to  the  newly  created  Chair  of 
Journalism  at  Canterbury  College,  which  my  old  friend  Mr.  Robert 
Bell,  who  is  managing  director  of  one  of  our  most  important 
newspapers  and  who  took  a  prominent  part  in  San  Francisco  in 
1915  in  establishing  the  World's  Press  Congress,  has  endowed 
with  the  sum  of  three  thousand  pounds  in  memory  of  one  of  his 
sons  who  made  the  supreme  sacrifice  in  the  great  war.  Mr.  Bell 
not  only  was  one  of  the  executive  who  framed  the  Constitution 
of  this  Congress,  but  he  made  a  second  pilgrimage  to  the  United 
States  to  confer  with  our  worthy  President  as  to  the  next  session 
of  the  Congress  which,  had  all  things  gone  smoothly,  would  have 
been  held  in  Sydney  at  Eastertide  of  the  present  year,  and  I 
ought  to  state  very  frankly  while  I  am  on  my  feet  that  there  is 
some  misconception  as  to  why  that  meeting  in  Australia  was 
not  held. 

Mr.  Bell  and  I,  acting  in  concert  and  with  the  full  approval  of 
President  Williams,  consulted  with  the  Prime  Minister  of  New 
Zealand  and  his  cabinet,  as  to  what  part  our  Dominion  would 
take  in  the  reception  and  entertainment  of  the  delegates  to  that 
Congress.  We  received  a  most  sympathetic  hearing  from  Mr. 
Massey  who  promised  on  behalf  of  his  government  that  every 
facility  should  be  granted  to  the  Overseas  Delegates  to  see  as 
much  of  our  wonderland  and  majestic  scenery  as  the  time  at  their 
disposal  would  permit  while  enroute  to  Sydney,  and  the  news- 
paper proprietors  of  New  Zealand,  at  their  annual  convention, 
also  decided  to  do  their  part  in  adequately  entertaining  the  dele- 
gates when  they  made  their  first  port  of  call  at  Auckland.  But^ 
unfortunately,  the  whirligigs  of  politics  in  New  South  Wales 
brought  about  a  change  in  the  administration  of  affairs  of  that 
Mother  State  and  a  Labor  government  came  into  office,  which 
turned  down  absolutely  and  refused  to  have  anything  to  do  with 
Mr.  Holman's  proposal  to  make  the  World  Press  Congress  the 


176      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

guests  of  the  people  of  New  South  Wales.  I  am  satisfied  from 
my  knowledge  of  the  ex-premier  of  New  South  Wales  that,  had 
he  retained  ofifice,  he  would  have  carried  out  to  the  letter  the  agree- 
ment that  he  made  officially  with  us  in  San  Francisco  six  years 
ago,  and  that  no  one  regretted  more  deeply  than  himself — an 
old  working  journalist — ^that  that  undertaking  was  not  loyally 
carried  out. 

But  to  return  to  my  muttons.  Mr.  Bell's  deed  of  gift,  inspired 
I  have  very  little  doubt  by  the  experience  of  President  Williams, 
has  so  far  taken  concrete  shape  that  the  first  lecturer  in  journalism 
that  New  Zealand  has  is  Mr.  A.  G.  Henderson,  who  has  had  a 
long  and  honorable  journalistic  career  and  who  is  today  general 
manager  of  the  Lyttelton  Times.  Having  filled  every  subordinate 
position  on  the  staff  of  that  paper,  he  rose  by  dint  of  perseverance, 
industry  and  natural  ability,  to  the  position  of  principal  leader 
writer,  and  himself  a  student  of  Canterbury  College.  I  am  satis- 
fied that  nothing  will  be  wanting  on  his  part  to  make  the  new 
Chair  a  conspicuous  success.  My  only  criticism  of  Mr.  Bell's 
gift  is  that  it  is  somewhat  restricted  in  its  character  and  that  in 
consequence  the  students  who  will  benefit  by  it  must  be  children 
of  journalists  who  have  resided  within  the  provincial  district  of 
Canterbury.  To  my  thinking  there  ought  not  to  be,  under  any 
scheme  of  national  education  anywhere,  any  differentiation  or 
discrimination  against  candidates  for  any  prizes  in  the  scholastic 
or  academic  world.  The  aim  should  be  to  give  equal  opportunity 
and  equal  rewards  to  all.  We  may  not  all  agree  as  to  the  part 
schools  of  journalism  may  play  in  the  future  in  equipping  the 
men  and  women  who  are  to  fill  responsible  posts  on  our  news- 
papers, but  we  must  give  every  credit  to  Mr.  Bell  and  others 
like  himself,  whose  sole  desire  is,  as  I  know,  to  make  journalism 
a  better  profession  than  he  found  it  when  he  entered  it  himself, 
and  to  give  the  best  possible  advantages  educationally  and  other- 
wise to  those  who  in  the  future  will  have  the  shaping  of  the 
destinies  of  the  countries  in  which  they  live. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  In  Japan  a  number  of  courses  in  jour- 
nalism have  been  carried  on.  Some  lectures  on  journalism  have 
been  delivered,  one  by  Mr.  Sugimura,  whom  we  had  the  privilege 
of  hearing  this  morning,  at  Keio  University.  I  am  going  to  ask 
Mr.  Zumoto,  editor  of  the  Herald  of  Asia,  Tokyo,  to  say  some- 
thing to  us  about  journalistic  education  in  Japan. 


COL.  AND 


OSWALD  MAYKANI)   (upi.t-r  left),  Montreal.  Canada; 
AGUSTIN  LAZO    (upper  rioht),  Havana,  CriiA; 
MRS.  EDWARD  FREDERICK  LAWSON   (lower  left),  London,  England; 
MR.  AND  MRS.  THOMAS  PETRIE  (lower  right),  Hongkong. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  \11 

MR.  ZUMOTO  :  I  am  placed  in  rather  a  tight  place.  Although 
I  have  been  engaged  in  journalistic  work  for  nearly  thirty  years, 
my  experience  in  this  field  has  been  confined  entirely  to  journal- 
ism in  English,  a  language  which  I  was  not  born  in,  therefore  I 
feel  hardly  qualified  to  say  anything  about  the  conditions  of 
journalistic  education  in  Japan. 

So,  asking  your  leave  to  shirk  that  part  of  the  duty,  I  wish  to 
be  allowed  to  say  a  few  words  about  what  Mr.  Tong  has  said  in 
so  eloquent  language.  I  heartily  emphasize  every  word  he  said 
in  behalf  of  his  country.  Everybody  that  goes  to  China  neces- 
sarily comes  to  Japan  also,  and  therefore  in  that  respect  these 
pleadings  are  for  Japan  as  well. 

Now,  with  regard  to  China,  speaking  for  myself,  I  am  filled 
with  deep  feelings  of  sympathy  for  the  very  difficult  and  critical 
period  of  history  through  which  she  is  now  passing.  General 
ignorance  of  the  outside  public  about  conditions  in  that  country 
have  led  to  many  unfortunate  ideas  and  to  many  unfortunate  mis- 
takes. One  of  these  ideas  which  a  large  and  influential  number 
of  men,  both  in  China  and  in  Europe  and  America,  are  propagat- 
ing now  is  that  China  has  reached  a  stage  where  she  needs  foreign 
supervision  with  regard  to  the  management  of  her  internal  affairs. 
Now,  as  a  Japanese  journalist,  I  can  tell  you  that  that  idea  has 
received  no  response  from  either  the  members  of  the  press  or 
from  any  other  profession  or  class  of  people  there.  We  feel 
that  is  an  insult  to  a  great  people  and  we  know  that  anything  of 
that  kind  is  bound  to  fail.  We  feel  that  way  not  because  we  are 
filled  with  sympathy  for  the  Chinese  people  but  because  we  know 
conditions  in  China  fairly  well,  in  any  case  better  than  any  other 
foreign  people.  We  have  studied;  speaking  for  myself,  when 
we  were  boys  we  studied  Chinese  philosophy  and  Chinese  classics 
and  that  was  the  best  part  of  our  education.  Our  study  of  his- 
tory was  the  history  of  China.  We  owe  almost  everything  of 
value  in  our  art,  in  our  philosophy  and  in  our  letters  to  China  and 
to  Korea  and  we  know  that  China  has  produced  a  series  of  great 
statesmen,  leaders  and  generals,  and  we  also  know  that  once  in 
every  two,  three  or  four  hundred  or  five  hundred  years  there 
has  been  revolution  in  China  and  every  time  that  revolution  took 
place  the  country  had  to  go  slow  from  hard  and  sometimes  cruel 
experience.  For  that  war  lasted  sometimes  ten  years  and  some- 
times seventy  years. 
12 


178       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Now  it  is  only  ten  years  since  China  started  on  this  experi- 
ment of  a  republic.  I  have  no  doubt  that  ultimately  China  will 
succeed  in  that  experiment.  It  is  utterly  irrational  to  expect  that 
this  experiment  should  be  completed  in  five  or  ten  years.  All  we 
have  to  do  is  to  give  China  plenty  of  time,  say  five,  ten,  twenty 
or  even  thirty  years  more  and  let  the  Chinese  people  work  in  their 
own  historical  way,  and  in  the  meanwhile  let  the  outsiders  keep 
the  ring  for  the  Chinese.  Let  nobody  rush  in  and  take  charge 
of  conditions  in  China.  You  may  say  "Well,  Mr.  Editor,  you 
may  think  so  but  some  of  the  others  may  not  think  so.  Look  at 
your  ministers,  what  are  they  doing?"  I  anticipate  that  remark. 
However  as  I  am  going  to  treat  that  subject  in  an  address  which 
the  chairman  has  promised  me  I  shall  not  go  into  that  now. 

But  I  can  say  that  the  world  has  made  a  mistake  about 
Japanese  militarism.  Militarism  is  not  a  power  to  decide  our 
national  policy.  It  is  not  so  now  and  it  will  never  be  so  in  our 
history.  So  I  feel  sure  in  assuring  you  that  in  saying  this  I 
voice  the  sentiment  of  the  most  intelligent  and  influential  section 
of  my  people.  If  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  come  out  to  Japan 
and  study  the  situation  you  will  see  exactly  where  things  stand 
there  and  you  will  come  to  the  conclusion  to  which  I  have  come 
in  an  experience  and  study  of  thirty  years. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  May  I  not  say  before  adjournment  just 
a  word  or  two  about  Mr.  Hornaday's  paper.  His  paper  dealt 
only  or  chiefly  with  the  training  of  reporters  in  journalism.  Now, 
the  reporter  is  an  essential  part,  perhaps  the  most  essential  part 
in  journalism,  but  he  is  not  all,  and  the  other  schools  of  jour- 
nalism and  other  teachers  of  journalism  are  engaged  in  preparing 
their  students  for  other  fields  of  journalistic  endeavor  as  well 
as  the  field  of  the  salaried  reporter  on  somebody  else's  newspaper. 
I  think  this  is  a  fair  statement  to  be  made  in  reference  to  Mr. 
Hornaday's  paper,  but  having  that  particular  branch  of  education 
in  his  charge  at  the  University  of  Texas,  he  has  perhaps  left  the 
impression  with  persons  not  familiar  with  this  school  and  with 
other  schools,  that  the  art  of  reporting  is  the  only  art  considered 
in  courses  and  schools  of  journalism. 

MR.  FRANK  P.  GLASvS  :  May  I  have  the  privilege  for  a  min- 
ute or  two  of  speaking  on  the  question  that  Mr.  Dotson  brought 
up  and  also  of  elaborating  a  little  on  what  he  had  to  say.     I,  like 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  179 

every  other  practical  newspaper  man,  have  had  my  doubts  of 
schools  of  journalism,  but  this  summer  I  was  invited  by  the  dean 
of  the  school  of  journalism  at  Missouri  University  to  deliver  an 
address  before  it,  and  I  stayed  there  the  entire  week  and  saw 
the  workings  of  that  school  of  journalism  with,  you  might  say,  a 
prejudiced  eye.  I  came  away  a  thorough  convert  to  that  school, 
and  to  any  other  school  following  similar  methods.  I  discovered 
that  it  had  an  extraordinary  efficiency  as  a  training  school  of 
character.  Schools  of  journalism  are  not  purely  mechanical,  and 
that  school  impressed  me  as  an  exceedingly  practical  one,  be- 
cause it  was  publishing  every  day  a  commercial  newspaper,  i.  e., 
a  newspaper  in  the  ordinary  sense  of  the  term.  Men  and  women 
were  being  taught  editorial  work,  the  mechanics  of  a  newspaper, 
advertising,  circulation,  editorial  and  desk  work  throughout. 
Everybody  had  an  opportunity  there  to  learn  as  much  of  the  prac- 
tical work  as  well  as  the  theoretical  work  of  making  a  newspaper. 
I  am  not  familiar  with  other  schools  of  journalism  in  this  country, 
but  know  that  most  of  them  are  following  along  in  the  paths  of 
this  pioneer  school,  and  I  think  that  newspaper  managers  are 
finding  everywhere  that  men  coming  out  of  these  schools  are  up- 
lifted in  their  ideals  of  journalism. 

MR.  HORNADAY :  I  have  here  a  report  of  the  Committee  on 
Credentials  which  I  shall  read : 

Supplemental  to  the  list  of  delegates  already  authorized,  the 
Committee  on  Credentials  begs  leave  to  report  that  it  has  examined 
the  credentials  of  the  following  additional  delegates,  and  found 
them  to  be  in  proper  form,  and  the  applicants  are  authorized  to 
participate  in  the  proceedings  of  the  Press  Congress : 

Mr.  P.  Y.  Chien,  Editor  Social  Welfare,  Tientsin,  China. 

Dr.  F.  F.  Bunker,  Honolulu. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  Action  on  the  report  will  be  deferred 
until  tomorrow  morning. 

The  Congress  is  adjourned  to  meet  tomorrow  at  nine  o'clock 
a.  m. 


FOURTH    SESSION. 

TUESDAY  MORNING.  OCTOBER  18,  1921. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  nine  o'clock  a.  m.     Presi- 
dent Williams  in  the  chair. 


180       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  In  the  temporary  absence  of  the  Secre- 
tary I  take  pleasure  in  appointing  Mr.  Petrie,  of  Hongkong  to 
serve  this  morning  in  his  stead. 

THE  SECRETARY :  The  following  radiogram  has  been  re- 
ceived since  yesterday : 

P'rom  Hans  Den  Weisz,  Delegate  appointed  by  Governor  Preus  of  Min- 
nesota :  "Congratulate  you  on  your  work.  What  we  need  most  is  the 
old  time  spirit  of  confidence.  The  newspaper  man  as  no  other  has  the 
opportunity  to  develop  in  his  country  optimism,  hope,  and  faith ;  regret 
can't  be  with  you.     God-speed  to  the  press  congress." 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  A  radio  from  Venezuela  regarding  press 
conditions  there,  and  also  the  following: 

A  resolution  proposed  by  Mr.  S.  E.  De  Rackin  relative  to  the  conference 
at  Washington ; 

A  communication  from  the  Association  of  Foreign  Press  Correspondents 
relative  to  newspaper  advertising; 

A  communication  from  the  Association  of  Foreign  Press  Correspondents 
at  New  York,  through  its  president,  Mr.  Percy  Bullen,  regarding  a  resolu- 
tion for  the  observance  of  Armistice  Day; 

A  communication  from  the  American  Forestry  Association  regarding 
news  print  supplies ; 

A  communication  from  the  Spanish  Press  Association  of  Madrid,  rela- 
tive to  the  recognition  of  Spanish  as  an  official  language  of  future  meetings 
of  the  congress ; 

And  a  communication  from  Hedrik  C.  Anderson,  of  Rome,  relative  to 
a  spiritual  capital ; 

Are  referred  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions. 
I  recognize  Mr.  Mark  Cohen,  of  New  Zealand,  who  will  read 
a  letter  from  Sir  George  Fenwick. 

MR.  COHEN:  I  am  pleased  to  be  able  to  tell  you  that  Sir 
George  Fenwick  is  the  President  of  the  New  Zealand  Branch  of 
the  Empire  Press  Union;  is  one  of  our  most  respected  journalists 
and  is  recognized  in  the  profession  as  a  man  of  light  and  leading, 
and  therefore  any  words  of  welcome  that  come  from  him  may 
be  accepted  by  you  in  the  spirit  in  which  they  are  ofifered.  I  will 
read  his  letter : 
Dear  Mr.  Cohen  : 

I  shall  be  glad  if  you  will  convey  to  the  President  my  regret  at  finding 
myself  unable  to  attend  the  Congress  of  the  World's  Press  to  be  held 
at  Honolulu  next  month.  This  Company  felt  that  it  should  be  represented, 
however,  and,  as  you  know,  Mr.  William  Easton,  its  manager,  will  travel 
with  you  to  the  Congress  as  its  representative.  I  mention  the  Daily  Times 
and  Witness  Company's  desire  to  mark  its  interest  in  the  Conference  partly 
from  the  standpoint  that  the  Otago  Daily  Times  was  the  first  daily  news- 
paper to  be  published  in  New  Zealand  and  will  celebrate  its  sixtieth  birth- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  181 

day  on  15th  November  next.  This  is  an  event  in  which  you  also  will  have 
a  personal  interest,  for  you  and  I  were,  as  boys,  in  very  humble  capacities 
members  of  the  staff  of  the  paper  at  its  foundation.  It  is  a  long  vista  of 
years  to  look  back  on,  and  memories  sad  and  joyous,  events  hopeful  and 
clouded  with  doubt,  objects  attained,  projects  unrealized — a  thousand  and 
one  remiscences  of  the  steadily  advancing  journalism  of  this  Dominion  as  of 
the  greater  world  beyond  its  shores — well  up  in  the  mind.  But  with  them 
there  is  the  proud  knowledge  that  the  New  Zealand  press  can  take  its  stand 
beside  the  powerful  journals  of  the  old  world  as  representative  of  all  that 
is  sound  and  wholesome  in  newspaper  life,  of  all  that  stands  for  the  wel- 
fare of  the  people,  and  endowed  to  the  full  with  that  spirit  of  patriotism 
and  love  of  our  Empire  which  stood  for  so  much  in  the  tragic  liappenings 
of  recent  years. 

It  is  my  very  earnest  hope  that  there  will  be  a  large  gathering  at 
Honolulu  of  the  world's  pressmen,  and  that  the  proceedings  at  the  Con- 
ference will  prove  of  great  benefit  alike  to  newspaper  interests  and  to 
those  of  the  general  community. 

With  kind  regards,  Yours  sincerely, 

George  Fenwick. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  An  invitation  has  been  forwarded 
through  Dr.  Sebastiao  Sampaio  of  the  Association  of  the  Press  of 
Brazil,  from  that  Association  and  the  government  of  Brazil,  to  hold 
the  next  session  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  in  Rio  de 
Janeiro.  The  invitation  has  not  yet  reached  us,  but  I  acknowledge 
the  advance  notice  of  its  coming  and  refer  it  when  it  does  arrive 
to  the  Executive  Committee  that  shall  be  elected  at  this  congress. 
You  have  heard  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Credentials  sub- 
mitted yesterday.     A  motion  for  its  adoption  will  be  in  order. 

MR.  GLASS  :    I  move  the  adoption  of  the  committee's  report. 

MR.  HERRICK:     I  second  that  motion. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  All  in  favor  say  Aye,  contrary  No.  Car- 
ried unanimously. 

Mr.  E.  S.  Bronson,  who  is  the  Oklahoma  Press  Association 
State  of  Oklahoma,  U.  S.  A.,  is  allotted  two  minutes  at  this  stage 
of  the  proceedings  to  make  an  announcement. 

MR.  BRONSON:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I 
want  to  tell  you  that  I  am  going  to  extend  an  invitation  to  this 
Press  Congress  to  come  to  Oklahoma.  We  have  beautiful  palms 
and  some  of  the  plants  you  have  here  in  Honolulu,  and  we  have 
also  oil,  and  I  assure  you  that  we  will  give  you  the  best  there  is 
in  the  city.  I  want  you  to  understand  that  I  mean  to  invite  you 
and  entertain  you  if  you  come.    I  have  distributed  copies  of  some 


182       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

photographs  of  the  only  country  editors'  club  house  in  the  United 
States.  It  was  built  by  himself  and  another  gentleman  who  has 
died  since. 

I  also  desire  at  this  time  to  indorse  schools  for  journalism. 
Down  in  my  State  I  have  tried  to  get  the  boys  and  girls  to  go 
to  a  school  of  journalism.  We  have  one  in  Oklahoma  and  I  am 
using  two  men  in  my  office  now,  products  of  schools  for  journal- 
ism.   I  thank  you. 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  The  invitation  presented  by  Mr.  Bronson 
will  be  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee. 

We  come  now  to  the  more  formal  part  of  the  morning's  pro- 
gram. The  general  topic  for  consideration  this  morning  is  "What, 
if  any,  are  the  obligations  of  journalists  in  reference  to  interna- 
tional relations."  Formal  addresses  will  be  limited  to  twenty 
minutes  each,  and  each  address  will  be  followed,  if  the  Press 
Congress  so  desires,  by  discussion.  The  entire  program  will  also 
be  followed  by  a  discussion  and  the  speeches  in  discussion  will 
be  limited  to  five  minutes  each. 

I  present  as  the  first  speaker  a  man  who  has  done  perhaps 
as  much  for  the  Press  Congress  in  his  part  of  the  world  and  in 
Southern  Europe  as  any  member  of  the  organization.  Dr.  V.  R. 
Beteta. 

DR.  BETETA:  Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Press  Con- 
gress of  the  World:  On  the  subject  I  am  to  speak  on  today,  viz. : 
"What,  if  any,  are  the  obligations  of  the  Press  Congress  in  refer- 
ence to  international  relations,"  I  wrote  a  paper  which  the  New 
York  Editor  and  Publisher,  whose  specialty  is  news  collected 
from  the  newspaper  trade  and  matters  of  editorial  import,  printed 
in  its  number  devoted  to  the  inauguration  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World.  I  would  refer  you  to  that  paper,  which  is  presented 
to  the  congress  for  its  details.  I  answer  the  question  there  af- 
firmatively by  stating  that  world  peace  must  be  the  highest  ideal 
of  the  Press  Congress  in  dealing  with  the  subject  of  international 
relations,  and  that  the  best  proceeding  for  the  accomplishment  of 
such  an  ideal  is  to  form  a  permanent  organization  of  journalists 
throughout  the  world,  an  international  league  of  journalists,  for 
better  international  understanding  with  the  welfare  of  all  peoples 
as  its  sole  object. 

I  outlined  roughly  there  the  plan  for  a  tribunal  whose  deci- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  183 

sions  shall  be  more  difficult  to  ignore  because  sanctioned  by  a 
moral  and  not  a  material  force,  a  league  built  upon  a  previous 
and  larger  combination  of  viewpoints  among  its  associates,  in  a 
word,  a  world  press  court.  I  stated  there  how  both  aspirations, 
the  press  court  and  the  league  of  journalists,  can  be  materialized 
in  this  new  and  every  day  better-understood  institution  known  as 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  which,  from  this  meeting  in 
Honolulu  will  continue  on  a  permanent  basis  and  be  developed  to 
the  greatest  extent,  its  purpose  the  same  as  heretofore,  the  serv- 
ice of  journalism  and  the  world.  I  stated  there  that  we  stand  at 
the  historical  moment  at  which  the  press,  profiting  by  the  serious 
lessons  of  the  times,  tries  to  improve  itself  by  an  inner  critical  ex- 
amination. 

The  formula  "International  journalistic  co-operation  shall 
come  to  prove  all  that  the  press  is  capable  of  accomplishing  for 
its  self-improvement,"  the  Press  Congress  is  called  to  be  the 
nucleus  of  that  co-operation.  It  will  work  for  the  liberation  of 
the  press  in  countries  that  do  not  yet  enjoy  it,  and  at  the  same 
time,  for  a  moderation  in  the  behavior  of  the  press  where  its 
accessors  are  conducing  to  end  its  freedom.  I  also  believe  that 
the  standards  of  the  press  can  be  raised  with  the  help  of  schools 
of  journalism  and  that  to  make  the  profession  of  journalism  a 
matter  of  special  study  and  a  definite  career,  either  by  propa- 
gating schools  of  journalism  or  through  the  incorporation  of 
special  study  in  the  ordinary  curriculum,  seems  to  be  the  best 
way  to  reach  that  end.    I  make  the  following  quotation : 

It  is  worth  noting  that  this  Press  Congress  is  being  patronized  by 
a  university  and  presided  over  by  a  past  master  of  world  journalism,  one 
of  the  leaders  of  American  thought.  It  is  only  necessary  to  remember  that 
this  university — the  University  of  Missouri — has  distinguished  itself  by  the 
wide  scope  of  its  studies  on  comparative  journalism.  It  was  there  that  the 
first  faculty  of  journalism  created  in  the  United  States,  indeed  in  the 
world,  was  established.  There  also,  some  of  the  most  eminent  editors  of 
the  United  States  meet  once  a  year  for  their  "Week  of  Journalism,"  and 
the  University  of  Missouri,  as  stated  yesterday  by  our  distinguished  col- 
league Mr.  Glass,  issues  a  daily  newspaper  managed  and  edited  exclusively 
by  the  students.  Thus  appears  the  interesting  fact  that  in  the  very  heart 
of  the  United  States,  a  great  University  has  made  itself  the  champion  of 
journalism  as  a  profession  and  is  determined  to  make  the  permanent  Con- 
gress of  the  Press  the  body  from  which  journalism's  ideals  are  going  to 
be  communicated  to  the  world. 

The  proposed  league  of  journalists  through  the  world  will  put  an  end 


184       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

to  the  extreme  of  nationalism.  Over  tlie  old  conception  of  nationalism 
will  prevail  a  wider  idea  of  the  universal  country  for  humanity.  Indeed, 
to  what  extent  does  the  press  help  kindle  the  blaze  of  war?  Were  not 
the  newspapers,  before  the  beginning  of  the  last  terrible  world  war,  to 
a  certain  extent  fanning  the  hates  of  the  peoples  through  their  presentations 
of  facts  from  the  point  of  view  of  a  rabid  nationalism?  Was  not  the  news 
from  the  official  agencies  published  by  the  press  the  medium  used  to 
carry  the  propaganda  of  the  particular  viewpoints  of  the  governments,  rather 
than  those  of  the  people,  and  least  of  all  the  views  of  Humanity?  On 
the  other  hand,  if  journalism  had  been  enjoying  what  you  may  call  free- 
dom of  conscience,  that  is  to  say,  not  merely  the  freedom  granted  by  the 
State  but  the  inner  freedom  of  expression  without  any  prejudice  or  in- 
herited conventionalism;  if  the  European  press  had  been  for  the  last  cen- 
tury free  to  discuss  and  present  frankly  the  facts  about  the  political  en- 
tanglements and  the  engineering  of  secret  treaties — which  was  the  source 
from  which  the  war  gathered  its  terrific  strength — it  could  have  given  a 
start  to  a  healthy  reaction  on  the  part  of  the  public  against  the  extremes 
of  nationalism  and  in  favor  of  peace. 

The  propitious  hour  for  a  general  revision  of  facts  and  a  revision  of 
conscience  is  the  present  hour,  when  the  war  has  just  come  to  a  close  and 
its  lessons  are  still  fresh  and  its  wounds  still  open,  when  in  one  or  another 
form  statesmen  and  peoples  are  trying  to  build  the  foundation  for  a  future 
peace.  To  attain  this  end,  the  need  for  better  understanding  among  the 
newspaper  men  of  all  countries  is  apparent,  especially  those  from  the  na- 
tions that  have  delicate  problems  pending  between  them. 

Finally,  I  state  in  my  paper  how  from  one  end  of  the  world 
to  another  the  vague  aspiration  for  a  better  understanding  and 
for  the  building  up  of  an  institution  through  which  co-operative 
efforts  can  materialize,  is  taking  more  definite  form  every  day.  I 
point  out  some  of  the  facts  which  prove  such  an  assertion,  and 
quote  especially  the  active  part  that  Spain  and  Latin  America 
are  taking  in  this  movement.  Let  me  now  add  some  concrete 
examples  of  what  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  could  accom- 
plish in  the  matter  of  this  proposed  international  journalistic  co- 
operation in  regard  to  the  Spanish  speaking  world.  I  will  quote 
but  three  cases  to  be  submitted  to  your  consideration. 

The  first  case  refers  to  the  Republic  of  Peru  and  the  second 
to  Venezuela,  both  tending  to  ask  moral  support  of  the  Congress 
on  behalf  of  the  freedom  of  the  press. 

The  third  refers  to  Central  America,  my  native  country,  and 
asks  this  moral  support  to  solve  its  greater  problem  which  is  of 
international  interest  to  all  Latin  America. 

Proposition  of   Dr.    Luis   Fernan   Cisneros,   Director   of    La 
Prema,  Lima,  Peru. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  185 

Two  months  ago,  in  South  America,  one  of  the  most  es- 
teemed papers  at  Lima,  the  capital  of  Peru,  was  closed  and  con- 
fiscated by  the  Government.  The  alleged  cause  was  that  there 
had  been  published  some  articles  of  seditious  character,  inter- 
fering with  public  order.  The  building  and  printing  press  were 
taken  by  force.  To  justify  this  proceeding,  the  Government, 
through  a  decree,  declared  that  this  was  done  by  reason  of  public 
necessity. 

The  editor.  Dr.  Luis  Fernan  Cisneros,  is  for  that  reason  now 
in  exile  in  Panama  whence  he  has  sent  an  energetic  protest, 
setting  the  case  before  the  whole  world  and  especially  before  the 
Latin  American  journalists.  He  has  sent  a  letter  to  the  Hispanic 
Section  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  requesting  it  to 
submit  the  case  to  the  assembly  at  Honolulu  and  asking  the  moral 
support  of  the  Congress. 

The  following  case  refers  to  a  more  serious  situation  and 
of  a  more  general  character,  to  assist  which  the  co-operation  of 
the  Congress  is  looked  for. 

Dr.  Jacinto  Lopez,  Member  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World,  and  Editor  of  La  Reforma  Social,  an  international,  politi- 
cal and  historical  monthly  review  of  New  York  City,  proposes 
to  the  Congress  to  take  a  resolution  denouncing  to  the  world  the 
present  despotism  of  Venezuela,  the  only  one  which  exists  in 
America  after  the  war. 

Doctor  Lopez  is  one  of  the  most  noted  publicists  of  Latin 
America.  His  review  has  been  exclusively  devoted,  for  the  many 
years  that  it  has  been  in  existence,  to  the  defence  of  the  principles 
of  freedom,  independence  and  sovereignty  of  the  continental 
countries  of  Spanish  origin.  His  proposition  is  to  form  a  coali- 
tion between  all  the  organs  of  the  press,  if  not  the  press  of  the 
whole  world,  at  least  that  of  the  American  continent,  against 
despotism  in  America. 

He  says,  "The  first  institution  that  despotism  destroys  is  the 
press  because  it  is  the  most  to  be  feared  by  despotism  and  also 
the  most  incompatible  with  it.  Therefore,  the  press  of  the  free 
countries  is  the  natural  enemy  of  the  individual  governments  and 
autocratic  governments  such  as  that  of  Venezuela." 

In  reality  the  press  of  the  civilized  world  has  no  service  more 
important  to  give  than  that  of  fighting  for  liberty  in  the  countries 


186       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

that  still  live  under  the  shadow  and  opprobrium  of  political  op- 
pression; and  the  press  of  America  especially,  has  not  today,  in 
my  concept,  a  duty  more  urgent  to  fulfill  than  that  which  the 
disastrous  situation  existing  in  Venezuela  imperiously  demands 
of  her. 

The  tolerance  and  indifference  of  the  world  toward  situations 
like  that  of  Venezuela  does  not  do  honor  to  modern  civilization. 
The  world  of  civilized  nations  ought  not  to  maintain  relations  of 
any  sort  with  countries  in  which  there  are  ruling  governments 
so  barbarous  as  that  of  Venezuela,  which  is  an  affront  to  the 
human  species.  It  seems  as  if  it  ought  to  be  impossible,  in  an 
international  sense,  that  a  government  violates  not  only  all  the 
political  rights  but  also  the  principles  of  humanity  with  impunity. 
The  world  lives  and  continues  living  without  caring,  apparently, 
for  the  fate  of  the  countries  that  agonize  on  the  cross  of  primi- 
tive despotisms  by  their  ferocity  and  their  ignorance. 

The  great  force  of  modern  civilization  is  public  opinion,  and 
public  opinion  is  nourished  by  publicity  and  information.  From 
here  comes  the  power,  the  irresistible  power  of  the  press,  in 
reality  the  first  power  of  the  modern  world.  No  despotism  in 
America  would  be  able  to  survive,  in  my  concept,  the  continued 
and  co-ordinated  action  of  this  power. 

The  opportunity  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  meet- 
ing in  Honolulu,  is  precious.  A  resolution  denouncing  the  in- 
human despotism  of  Venezuela,  with  its  prisons,  its  hatreds,  its 
tortures,  its  assasinations,  its  robberies,  its  monopolies,  its  corrup- 
tion, its  vices,  its  pitiful  system  of  terror,  would  be  a  new  ac- 
complishment and  without  doubt  one  of  the  greatest  efficacy.  It 
would  be  a  proof  of  international  solidarity,  not  so  much  of  the 
governments  as  of  the  public.  It  would  signify  that  the  depotism 
cannot  count  upon  the  indifference  and  the  silence  of  the  rest  of 
the  world. 

This  is,  in  essence,  the  proposition  which  Dr.  Lopez  presents 
to  this  congress.  Can  this  congress,  under  its  constitution  and 
purposes,  open  its  door  for  the  consideration  of  matters  of  this 
kind,  or  does  this  fall  under  the  category  of  political  affairs  which 
are  banned  from  consideration  ? 

The  third  case  is  of  a  very  different  character. 

Central    America,   my  native   land,   is  not   indifferent   to  the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  187 

movement  represented  by  this  Congress.  On  the  contrary,  and 
as  long  as  eleven  years  ago,  it  foresaw  the  need  of  its  journalists 
uniting  in  a  league  in  order  to  attain  modern  progress  in  its  most 
practical  form. 

Some  ten  years  ago  the  Central  American  journalists  held  a 
Congress,  in  which  not  only  the  militant  newspapermen  took 
part,  but  also  all  men  of  learning  who  were  desirous  of  giving 
publicity  to  their  views  by  means  of  the  press.  At  that  memorable 
gathering  the  following  standard  was  adopted : 

"The  press  of  the  five  Central  American  republics  should  com- 
bine their  efforts  in  an  energetic,  unanimous  campaign,  that,  at 
the  end  of  ten  years  the  five  countries  might  be  reunited  into  one 
nation  as  they  were  before  they  gained  their  independence !" 

The  purpose  in  view  was  to  marshal  the  forces  of  the  press 
into  an  intensive  and  noble  campaign  to  expurgate  the  grave  di- 
sease that  has  undermined  the  vitality  of  the  five  countries,  and 
which  has  been  to  a  certain  extent  the  cause  which  has,  in  the 
course  of  time,  impaired  the  work  of  the  founders  of  the  Con- 
federation. 

Central  America  was  born  a  united  country.  What  desire 
more  legitimate  than  that  of  seeing  her  once  again  a  single  nation 
upon  reaching  the  first  centenary  of  independent  life? 

What  were  the  means  counselled  by  that  Congress  to  attain 
such  ends?  To  form  an  organization  for  international  co-opera- 
tion among  the  newspapers  and  intellectual  workers  of  the  five 
countries,  in  other  words  a  Newspapermen's  League,  which,  un- 
der the  control  of  a  group  of  statesmen  of  the  highest  prestige 
should  begin  an  intensive  propaganda  on  the  economic  agreements 
to  be  adopted  for  the  cultivation  of  common  interests ;  to  tie  the 
five  countries  with  bonds  of  positive  strength  destined  to  bridge 
the  distances  that  have  separated  then  until  now ;  and  to  complete 
the  work  of  rapprochement  already  initiated  by  the  need  of  mu- 
tual defense  through  a  common  government,  by  an  historical  tra- 
dition closely  similar,  by  the  imperative  command  of  geography, 
by  every  advice  of  experience  and  every  impulse  of  idealism. 

Notwithstanding  the  unfavorable  circumstances  of  the  po- 
litical atmosphere  for  the  development  of  the  whole  plan  at  that 
time,  the  seed  survived ;  and  that  effort  is  worth  recalling  in  re- 
ferring  to   the   inherited   and    fresh    sympathies    the    idea   of    a 


188      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

tJB  I''  .  . 

journalistic  league  awakens  in  Latin  America.  In  this  way  a 
newspapermen's  league  was  on  the  point  of  being  put  to  the 
test  for  the  noblest  and  most  fecund  of  purposes,  not  merely  in 
the  interest  of  five  countries,  but  of  the  progress  of  the  whole 
continent  as  well,  considering  it  as  a  single  expression  of  demo- 
cratic principles,  without  age-long  prejudices  and  destined  to 
realize  the  ideal  of  the  fatherland  for  a  new  mankind. 

The  importance  of  uniting  the  five  small  republics  has  been 
recognized  by  the  Spanish  press,  which  has  studied  our  problem 
with  much  sympathy  and  has  praised  our  efforts,  as  has  done 
that  of  Latin  America.  One  of  the  greatest  Latin  American 
dailies,  one  of  the  greatest  newspapers  of  Argentina,  La  Prensa, 
suggested  years  ago  that  the  several  governments  of  Spanish 
America  should  morally  aid  Central  Americans  to  reconstruct  the 
old  Confederacy  by  the  year  1921,  centenary  of  its  independence, 
by  appointing  special  diplomats  entrusted  with  that  task.  Even 
the  American  press  has  declared  itself  unanimously  and  enthu- 
siastically in  favor  of  the  union. 

What  more  appropriate  demonstration  than  that  this  Press 
Congress  of  the  World  should  also  see  fit  to  emphasize  the  moral 
protection  which  the  press  of  the  entire  world  must  extend  to 
the  Central  Americans  in  their  effort  to  consolidate  so  vast  and 
transcendent  an  enterprise? 

To  point  out  to  the  Press  of  the  World  the  significance  that 
the  consolidation  of  their  political  unity  involves  for  the  five 
countries  of  Central  America  and  for  the  reciprocal  relations  of 
Latin  America,  and  to  persuade  those  newspapers  to  tender  their 
sympathies  and  moral  support  to  the  Central  Americans  for  the 
accomplishment  of  that  supreme  blessing,  is  to  my  understanding, 
an  exalted  goal  which  the  Press  Congress  can  help  to  attain  for 
the  promotion  of  beneficial  interests  among  all  peoples. 

Besides  its  educational  schools  of  journalism;  besides  its 
works  for  procuring  better  means  of  cablegraphic  communica- 
tion ;  besides  its  periodical  congresses  at  which  the  most  advanced 
principles  in  journalism  might  be  declared,  a  permanent  effort  in 
the  direction  of  this  practical  and  greatest  of  ideals  of  the  peoples 
would  place  this  Congress  in  the  very  near  future  at  the  head 
of  the  new  world. 

The  moral  and  intensive  support  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World  could  be  given  to  its  full  extent  for  a  union  that  shall  in- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  189 

sure  for  the  five  countries  the  reign  of  pubHc  rights,  the  sacred- 
ness  of  property,  the  removal  of  the  deep  economic  obstacles  that 
have  hindered  the  development  of  the  immense  natural  resources 
of  the  Central  American  lands ;  a  union  that  shall  open  up  for  the 
sons  of  Central  America  the  sources  of  a  permanent  prosperity 
in  every  aspect  of  life;  a  union  that  shall  be  above  the  petty  in- 
terests of  partisanship,  above  the  narrow  politics  of  each  sepa- 
rate country ;  a  union  that  shall  open  the  way  for  a  closer  relation- 
ship among  the  sons  of  Central  America,  banishing  the  hatreds 
and  provincial  jealousies  in  which  our  peoples,  often  instigated 
by  their  governments,  have  been  involved ;  a  union  that  shall 
bind  the  leading  men  of  Central  America  in  a  co-operative  move- 
ment embracing  the  improvement  of  the  cultural  and  economic 
conditions  of  the  mass  of  people ;  a  union  that  shall  be  the  start- 
ing point  for  a  new  era  of  harmony  after  a  century  wasted  in 
the  hard  process  of  a  social  and  political  adjustment;  that  main- 
tains over  the  five  countries  the  rights  of  sovereignty  and  the 
sentiment  of  their  solidarity  and  their  duty  toward  the  other 
peoples  of  the  earth ;  for  a  union  that  shall  be  the  result  of  the 
united  efforts  of  the  best  sons  of  the  five  countries  and  of  the 
five  peoples ;  for  a  union  founded  upon  such  basis  and  oriented 
to  such  goal  of  progress  and  civilization.     (Applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  Are  there  any  remarks  at  this  time  in 
connection  with  Dr.  Beteta's  paper?  I  assume  that  the  several 
committees  of  the  Congress  will  take  such  cognizance  of  the 
questions  raised  for  consideration  or  otherwise  as  they  may  deem 
necessary. 

Those  of  us  who  come  from  the  mainland  of  America  know 
of  the  high  significance  in  American  journalism  of  the  American 
Newspaper  Publishers'  Association.  Delegates  from  other  coun- 
tries may  be  interested  in  the  statements  of  the  A.  N.  P.  A.,  an 
organization  composed  of  the  larger  metropolitan  newspapers  of 
the  United  States,  one  of  the  more  important  organizations  that 
bring  the  pressmen  of  the  United  States  together  for  common 
council. 

Among  the  delegates  to  this  Congress  is  a  former  president 
of  the  American  Newspaper  Publishers'  Association,  and  bus- 
iness manager  of  the  Brooklyn  Standard  Union  whom  we  have 
had  the  privilege  of  hearing  briefly  at   other   times   during  the 


190      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Congress  sessions.  It  is  a  pleasure,  as  well  as  a  distinguished 
honor,  to  present  to  you  as  the  next  speaker,  Mr.  Herbert  L. 
Bridgman  of  Brooklyn. 

MR.  BRIDGMAN  :  The  purpose  of  this  paper  is  neither  spec- 
ulative nor  prophetic.  I  am  to  try  to  speak  to  you  concerning  "The 
Newspaper  of  Tomorrow,"  but  of  what  value  will  be  our  fore- 
cast except  review  of  yesterday  and  survey  of  today  to  precede 
it?  "I  have  but  one  lamp,"  said  Patrick  Henry,  "by  which  my 
feet  are  guided,  the  light  of  experience,"  and  none  of  the  works 
of  the  minds  and  the  hands  of  man  demonstrate  the  laws  and 
illustrate  the  processes  of  evolution  more  fully  and  forcibly  than 
the  newspaper. 

In  undertaking  the  honorable  duty  assigned  me  I  expressly 
disown  any  special  forte  or  fitness  for  it.  We  here  are  all  fellow 
workers  of  like  experiences  and  common  ambitions  and  as  I 
look  from  a  beginning  half  a  century  ago  upon  the  younger 
brothers  I  can  only  claim  to  be  an  older,  not  a  better  soldier.  Let 
me  by  way  of  suggestion  ask  you,  why  the  newspaper?  We 
have  heard  that  the  ancients  had  their  germs  or  types,  but  the 
Athenian  mobs  which  ran  after  every  new  thing  and  the  baked 
bulletin  boards  of  Rome  were  in  no  sense  precursors  of  what  this 
Congress  of  the  Press  of  the  World  stands  for  and  represents. 
It  is  true,  though,  that  that  famous  runner  who  told  Athens  that 
the  barbarian  drive  had  been  stopped  at  Marathon  and  fell  dead 
as  he  uttered  the  joyful  news  deserves  recognition  as  the  first 
war  correspondent  and  that  when  Caesar  wrote  to  Rome,  "Veni, 
vidi,  vici,"  he  made,  though  he  did  not  know  it,  the  best  headline 
of  the  centuries.  If  you  ask  why  the  newspaper,  you  must  go 
deep  into  human  nature  for  an  answer.  Desire  for  knowledge 
on  the  one  hand  and  for  gain  on  the  other  are,  if  we  will  but  be 
honest  and  speak  plainly,  the  parents  of  the  newspaper ;  for. 
to  state  it  in  mathematical  terms  the  equation  would  read,  Curios- 
ity plus  cupidity  equals  the  newspaper,  and  by  these  terms  I 
mean,  in  the  widest  and  most  liberal  interpretation,  still  more. 
Reduced  to  still  simpler  terms,  knowledge  is  power,  transmuted 
incarnated  into  the  newspaper,  a  very  human  institution,  with 
all  the  qualities,  mental  and  moral,  of  its  makers,  and  neither  de- 
manding nor  deserving  privileges,  prerogatives  or  rewards  except 
those  which  it  honestly  earns.    Look  at  the  evolution  of  the  news- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  191 

paper.  Printing,  movable  types,  were  for  books.  For  four 
thousand  years  before  the  Christian  era  and  fifteen  hundred  years 
after,  the  world  had  gotten  along  without  newspapers  and,  what 
is  infinitely  more  serious,  without  desire  for  them,  and  when 
they  first  appeared  they  were  among  the  lowest  forms  of  irregular 
and  precarious  life  in  the  literary  world.  No  matter  what  may 
have  been  the  descent  or  the  ascent  of  man,  evolution  has  no 
more  cogent  argument,  more  convincing  illustration,  than  that 
many-paged,  many-sided  product  with  which  the  whole  world  is 
today  familiar,  in  which  it  lives,  moves  and  has  its  being,  than 
the  daily  newspaper. 

At  least  this  might  be  the  plausible  conclusion  of  the  super- 
ficial observer,  for  it  must  be  remembered  that  all  this  extraor- 
dinary growth,  this  development  in  wealth,  power  and  prestige, 
has  been  not  as  in  church,  in  state,  in  national  enlargement,  from 
within  outward,  but  has  been  forced  from  the  outside,  super- 
imposed upon  the  existing  organization,  and  apparently  by  in- 
fluences exterior  and  superior.  The  newspaper  man  did  not 
invent  the  telegraph,  the  stereotype,  install  the  fast  press,  the 
telephone,  wireless  or  the  aeroplane,  all  of  which  are  his  faithful 
and  indispensable  servants,  and  on  which  his  life  and  prosperity 
depend.  All  came  to  him  from  outside  and  wholly  independent 
sources.  Shall  we  not  rather  say  that  the  newspapers  were  al- 
ways quick  to  perceive  and  ready  to  encourage  merit  in  every  new 
invention  and  that  every  patient,  struggling  inventor  knew  that 
as  soon  as  the  child  of  his  brain  was  ready  to  work  the  work 
would  be  provided  and  well  paid  for.  Mechanical  and  industrial 
history  may  be  searched  in  vain  for  more  generous  appreciation 
and  liberal  rewards  to  inventors  and  manufacturers,  no  matter  in 
which  of  the  many  collateral  and  appointed  fields  they  were 
working,  than  those  which  the  newspapers  have  bestowed  in  their 
eager  competition  for  the  latest  and  the  best.  It  may  also  be 
searched  in  vain  for  more  convincing  demonstration  of  the  value 
of  wholesome  and  healthy  competition  in  a  free  field  and  fair 
play,  and  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest.  The  completed  news- 
paper of  today,  as  it  is  placed  in  the  reader's  hand,  is,  on  its 
physical  and  mechanical  side  alone,  the  most  perfect  composite  of 
modern  invention  and  combination  of  means  to  end  in  modern 
civilization,  and  yet  at  a  price  so  small  and  itself  a  thing  so  com- 
inoa  that  no  one  ever  thinks  of  it. 


192       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Now,  I  will  not  say  that  I  disbelieve  all  which  I  have  said 
but  I  gravely  doubt  whether  it  will  stand  examination  and  analysis. 
Have  we  not  here,  and  to  deal  with  dual  forces,  the  interplay  of 
cause  and  effect,  a  situation  in  which  the  attempt  to  measure  re- 
sults and  assure  values  is  altogether  futile  and  fruitless?  Is  not 
the  newspaper  really  and  in  the  large  sense  and  long  run  as 
much  cause  as  effect?  Else  how  comes  it  that  in  every  land  and 
age  the  world  over  the  free  press  marches  with  progress  in  all 
the  applied  arts,  and  what  it  attracts  to  itself  and  assumes  later 
for  its  own  development  is  but  a  tithe,  or  infinitely  less,  of  that 
which  it  proclaims  and  explains  to  the  whole  world.  If  anything 
is  invented  anywhere,  the  newspapers  tell  every  other  inventor 
of  it,  and  if  special  advantages  and  conditions  favor  development 
at  one  center  rather  than  another,  newspapers,  not  consular  re- 
ports, tell  those  who  are  waiting  for  their  place  in  the  sun  of 
progress  and  prosperity.  Do  you  not  recall  "a  little  leaven 
leaveneth  the  whole  lump,"  and  do  I  claim  too  much  when  I 
claim  this  energizing,  vitalizing  function  for  the  newspaper? 
Something  more  than  politics,  more  than  a  bulwark  of  civil 
liberty,  is  in  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  that  its  press 
shall  be  forever  free;  it  is  pledge  and  guarantee  of  industrial, 
economic  and  commercial  integrity  and  independence. 

Now,  do  not  think  that  this  traverse,  and  there  is  one  more 
short  stage,  is  irrelevant.  If  predictions  are  to  be  worth  any- 
thing, they  must  be  based  on  something,  and  what  else  does  the 
newspaper  of  tomorrow  stand  for  except  that  of  the  present  and 
the  past?  That  the  radical,  revolutionary  changes  of  the  last 
generation  are  due  to  mechanical  causes  in  great  measures  may 
be  readily  conceded,  but  are  not  these  at  an  end?  Nothing  of 
prime  mechanical  importance  has  appeared  for  a  score  of  years, 
and  the  physical  complex  is  now  so  well  balanced  and  functions 
so  satisfactorily  that  it  is  more  than  doubtful  whether  it  will  be 
easily  disturbed.  Experiments  with  paper  mills  and  coal  mines 
may  be  undertaken,  but  they  involve  far  too  much  capital  outlay 
and  certain  continuous  competition  to  become  an  appreciable 
factor. 

On  the  other  hand,  while  the  changes  in  the  news  and  edi- 
torial departments  of  the  newspapers  have  been  no  less  complete 
and  sweeping  than  in  the  mechanical,  there  is  no  indication  nor 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  193 

assurance  that  they  are  at  an  end.  Personal  journaHsm,  the 
Greeley,  Bennett  and  Raymond  type,  to  mention  the  great  Ameri- 
can trinity  is  at  an  end,  and  so  is  the  era  which  produced  and  de- 
veloped them,  and  what  have  we  and  those  who  follow  us  in 
their  place?  I  will  not  admit  that  the  newspapers  have  lost 
their  power,  nor  outlived  their  influence,  even  though  the  great 
signal  lights  have  gone  out  and  the  landmarks  have  been  re- 
moved. Twenty  of  us,  the  other  evening,  admitted  to  each  other 
that  we  had  read  the  editorials  of  the  morning  papers;  not  one 
could  tell  the  subjects  nor  in  which  paper  he  had  read  it,  which 
to  my  thinking  is  not  the  significant  or  important  thing,  but  that 
they  had  all  read  something  and  that  they  had  the  habit.  In  the 
old  times  only  the  disciples  of  a  cult  or  the  followers  of  a  leader 
would  have  read  any  editorial,  and  all  the  others  would  have  gone 
on  ignorant  or  indifferent.  In  other  words,  the  newspaper  force 
of  today,  and  it  follows  the  laws  of  the  church  and  state,  is 
general,  impersonal  and  moves  upon  the  mass  rather  than  upon 
the  individual.  To  measure  or  compare  the  efifect  of  the  past  with 
the  present  is  impossible,  for  tests  and  standards  are  all  lacking, 
but  let  us  not  be  vainglorious  nor  overconfident.  If  a  tree  is 
to  be  judged  by  its  fruits,  look  at  that  barren  fig  tree,  New 
York's  municipal  election  four  years  ago  this  fall,  when  the 
Tammany  tiger,  with  one  newspaper  in  his  teeth,  tore  through 
the  Fusion  Hindenburg  line  and  captured  the  richest  political 
loot  of  the  country,  and  if  this  discourages  you,  look  again  and 
see  the  magnificent  way  in  which  the  Liberty  and  Victory  loans 
and  all  the  other  loans  and  drives  went  over  the  top.  Depend 
on  it,  the  newspaper  of  today  changed,  transformed  from  that  of 
yesterday,  has  lost  none  of  its  power.  Now,  and  at  last,  "The 
newspaper  of  tomorrow,"  shall  I  say  "Haec  fabula  docet?"  May 
I  not  invite  you  from  what  I  have  endeavored  to  recall  and 
outline,  to  larger  fields,  greater  power  and  responsibilities  and 
higher  rewards?  Let  me  ofifer  a  bill  of  particulars.  Mechanical 
evolution,  if  it  has  not  practically  ceased,  is  for  a  while  at  least 
quiescent.  Business  administration,  management  and  methods, 
in  the  old  times  rudimentary  or  non-existent,  are  rapidly  taking 
their  proper  place  among  the  exact  business  sciences,  and  rate 
cutting  and  confidential  rebates  for  the  proud  insider  in  all  rep- 
utable offices,  already  things  of  the  long  ago,  will  become  as 
13 


194       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

obnoxious  and  repugnant  as  piracy  or  slavetrading.  The  cir- 
culation liar  will  not  need  to  wait  for  his  fellows  in  the  lake 
which  burneth  with  fire  and  brimstone  and  the  publisher  who 
complacently  signs  and  swears  "to,  for  the  post  office  depart- 
ment, whatever  the  boys  put  before  me"  will  transfer  his  ob- 
liquity and  indifference  to  more  congenial  fields  of  activity. 
Nothing  is  more  certain  than  that  if  the  vapid  and  amateur  circula- 
tion statement  law  enacted  in  spite  and  ignorance  were  repealed 
every  self-respecting  publisher  would  rejoice,  not  so  much  on  his 
own  account  but  because  a  gratuitous  insult  on  the  whole  profes- 
sion had  been  withdrawn  and  a  standing  premium  on  falsehood  and 
official  incompetence  abated.  If  the  government  really  cared  to 
vindicate  its  own  good  name  and  faith  and  would  check  postage 
payments  with  sworn  statements  of  circulation  the  utter  absurd- 
ity of  the  whole  disgraceful  situation  would  be  demonstrated. 
Newspapers  have  firmly  established  their  own  standards  and 
code  of  honor,  and  no  more  effective  testimony  to  the  fallacy 
and  feebleness  of  the  government  in  business  can  be  found  than 
in  the  difference  in  value  between  a  postal  affidavit  and  an  A.  B.  C. 
certificate,  a  badge  of  honor  which  every  newspaper  is  proud 
to  wear. 

In  advertising,  the  future  is  bright,  and  I'm  not  speaking  of 
quantity  but  of  quality.  The  newspapers  of  their  own  accord 
many  by  common  consent,  long  before  laggard  legislators  awoke 
to  the  situation,  cleaned  house  and  cleaned  it  thoroughly,  and  if 
the  business  office  can  secure  response  and  co-operation  from  the 
editorial  rooms  the  job  is  finally  and  effectively  completed. 
Whether  the  newspaper  of  tomorrow  will  be  emancipated  from 
the  press  agent,  the  promoter  and  the  syndicate  who  work  by 
ways  that  are  dark  and  tricks  that  are  vain,  I  dare  not  predict. 
Nor  am  I  inclined  to  keep  reading  columns  so  straight  that  they 
lean  backward.  Many  commercial  and  business  enterprises 
often  have  substantial  news  value  and  genuine  and  general  human 
interest  to  the  community  of  which  the  newspaper  is  a  factor. 
My  objections  are  to  the  confidence  man  who  pretends  to  control 
editorial  opinion  and  to  the  meaner  types  of  petty  larceny  which 
collects  money  for  the  space  which  the  newspaper  innocently 
and  in  good  faith  gives  away.  For  all  this  deplorable  and 
depressing   situation   and   its   consequences,   however,    I    believe 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  195 

that  the  newspapers  themselves,  through  poverty  or  carelessness, 
are  responsible.  Beware  the  Greeks  bringing  gifts,  avoid  "flim- 
sy" as  the  pestilence ;  go  out  and  get  your  own  business  notes 
and  news,  and  then  no  man  will  tell  that  he  has  a  pull  and  that 
he  can  print  anything  in  your  columns. 

As  to  advertising  rates,  those  of  the  newspapers  of  tomorrow 
will  be  higher  than  those  of  to-day,  and  they  ought  to  be.  Not 
only  will  the  service  be  more  valuable  in  respect  to  quantity, 
but  its  quality  and  prestige  will  be  sensibly  advanced.  If  the 
newspaper  of  tomorrow  will  do  what,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  never 
been  done,  establish  a  unit  of  value  as  the  French  scientist  did 
of  measure,  it  will  do  a  service  to  itself  and  the  business  world 
scarcely  less  substantial  than  the  invention  of  printing.  Does 
any  member  of  this  Congress,  any  newspaper  man  anywhere, 
know  what  a  line  of  advertising  costs,  cost  being  one  of  the  first 
elements  in  the  price  fixing  of  every  other  commodity  and 
service?  I  am  hardly  willing  to  accept  without  reservation  the 
judgment  of  the  "Thunderer"  (of  New  York,  I  mean,  not  of 
London),  whose  memorable  twenty-five  years  of  the  Times  we 
hope  may  be  indefinitely  prolonged,  that  a  cent  a  line  per  thousand 
is  a  fair  basic  rate.  Maybe,  by  and  large,  "as  we  say  in  the 
West,"  but  does  not  application  of  this  rule  imply  a  change  every 
day  or  two  as  circulation  fluctuates,  endless  computation  and 
calculations  to  decide  prices?  And  does  not  everyone  know  that 
thousands  of  some  sorts  of  circulation  are  worth  millions  of 
other  sorts?  Of  one  thing,  however,  the  newspaper  of  tomorrow 
will  be  absolutely  sure  and  inflexible:  Rates,  whatever  they  are, 
will  be  maintained.  Here  there  is  no  middle  ground.  Integrity 
of  rates,  all  things  to  all  men,  is  to  a  newspaper  as  credit  to  the 
banker,  virtue  to  a  woman,  and  the  newspaper  which  trifles  with 
it  is  doomed. 

Disowning  again  prophetic  power,  I  foresee  in  the  newspaper 
of  tomorrow,  readjustment  of  capital  and  labor,  different  forms 
of  the  same  thing,  by  which  mutuality  and  understanding  will 
take  the  place  of  indifiference,  distrust,  thinly  veiled  antagonism ; 
in  which,  freed  from  the  taxes,  handicaps  and  strait-jackets  of 
organization,  competent  Vv^age  earners  may  do  the  work  which 
they  are  able  and  willing  to  and  receive  pay  profitable  to  them 
and  their  employers,  when  ambition  to  earn  and  save  shall  be 


196      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

recognized  and  rewarded  and  the  production  and  prosperity  in- 
creased. The  newspaper  of  tomorrow  will,  I  hope  and  believe, 
be  smaller  than  those  of  today.  Why  in  blind  competition  to 
print  everything  which  everybody  wants,  print  so  much  that  no- 
body wants?  This,  the  most  easily  approached  and  superficial 
of  its  characteristics,  will  most  likely  resolve  itself  largely  into 
a  commercial  and  mechanical  problem.  If  the  space  can  be  sold 
for  more  than  it  costs  it  will  be  otherwise,  curtailment  will  fol- 
low, depending  on  price  of  newsprint,  labor  and  other  materials 
of  production.  Retail  selling  price  will  doubtless  follow  the 
same  laws,  but  both  size  and  price  are  the  body,  not  the  soul,  of 
the  newspaper  of  tomorrow.  Whatever  may  happen  it  is  my 
belief  that  if  they  were  smaller  they  would  be  better,  though  this 
thing  must  not  be  pressed  to  the  vanishing  point.  But  how  many 
features,  supplements,  insets,  juniors  and  other  appendages  could 
we  not  discard  with  resignation  and  advantage?  Pictures  and 
colors,  light  cavalry  air  services  if  any  prefer,  are  too  recent  ac- 
cessories for  final  assessment.  Circulation  builders  and  pro- 
moters they  doubtless  are,  but  so  far  as  their  impact  on  public 
consciousness  and  will  are  concerned,  the  substantial  driving 
force  of  the  newspaper,  they  may  be  as  transient  as  the  lights  and 
shadows  of  which  they  are  made.  Compare  valuations.  The 
New  York  Mercury  reported  the  miraculous  retreat  of  the  Amer- 
ican army  after  the  battle  of  Long  Island,  which  saved  the  Revo- 
lution, in  three  lines ;  the  London  Times  covered  the  battle  of 
Waterloo  in  two  "sticks."  We  print  first  page  telegraphed  col- 
umns of  the  beastly  orgy  of  beastly  men  and  women  in  a  San 
Francisco  hotel,  and  that  too  before  we  have  determined  pater- 
nity, rank  which  smells  to  heaven  and  concerning  which  many 
valuable  pages  have  been  wasted. 

The  newspaper  of  tomorrow,  to  which  at  last  I  may  have 
brought  you,  deserves  an  apocalypse  to  which  I  am  unequal  and 
which  I  shall  not  attempt.  Do  you  not  see  in  this  review  of 
evolution  these  physical  and  outward  indices  which  I  have  en- 
deavored to  set  before  you  promise  and  inspiration?  If  the  day 
of  personal  journalism  is  passed,  the  picturesque,  colorful  day 
of  the  story  writer,  are  we  not  entering  on  a  higher  plan  and 
developing  forces  which  must  be  controlled  and  coordinated? 
That  the  newspaper  of  tomorrow  will  be  the  great  educator  of 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  197 

the  people  of  the  whole  world,  for  knowledge,  like  science,  has 
no  frontier  seems  inevitable,  and  yet  we  may  go  too  far  in  or- 
ganization and  impersonalism.  Every  great  newspaper  today 
of  the  first  class  is  an  institution,  intangible,  sometimes  destitute 
of  physical  assets,  but  can  the  corporation  which  has  no  soul 
maintain  its  hold  on  the  thought  and  the  conscience  of  the  pub- 
lic? The  scale  upon  which  the  great  newspapers  are  run  makes 
competition  practically  impossible,  and  without  subvention  of 
franchises  they  hold  substantial  and  potential  monopolies.  But 
if  they  are  not  human,  the  men  who  own  and  operate  them  are, 
and  in  this,  more  than  anything  else,  is  the  safety  and  safeguard 
of  the  newspaper  of  the  future.  "During  good  behavior"  some 
states  appoint  their  judges,  and  the  newspaper  of  the  future  will 
thrive  and  prosper  just  as  it  serves  the  people,  is  faithful  to  them 
and  its  own  convictions  of  duty.  The  absolute,  continuous  cer- 
tainty that  this  is  so,  that  not  only  prosperity  but  life  depends  on 
it,  is  the  hostage  which  the  newspaper  of  the  present  hands  on 
to  that  of  the  future.  That  of  the  past  educated  and  led  the 
people  in  political,  social  and  industrial  liberty  and  advancement, 
and  that  of  tomorrow  must  follow  the  law  of  its  life  and  evolution. 
One  hundred  and  fifty  years  have  passed  since  Burke's  im- 
mortal "three  estates  in  Parliament,  but  in  the  reporters'  gal- 
lery yonder  there  sits  a  Fourth  Estate,  more  important  far  than 
they  all."  May  the  newspaper  of  tomorrow  be  worthy  of  its 
heritage,  its  opportunity  and  its  duty.  Before  the  disarmament 
conference  opens  next  month  in  Washington  may  not  we,  re- 
porters and  interpreters  of  history,  have  laid  on  this  fair  and 
hospitable  island,  in  this  "Parliament  of  man"  in  personal  con- 
tact and  friendships,  the  foundation  of  a  real  League  of  Nations, 
a  "Federation  of  the  World?"     (Loud  applause). 


MRS.  EMMA  R.  REED,  Society  of  the  California  Woman's 
Press  Club,  Los  Angeles,  California:  Mr.  President,  Delegates 
of  the  Press  Congress:  As  I  will  not  be  here  after  tomorrow  I 
thought  I  would  like  to  say  a  few  words  today.  I  like  the  op- 
timistic tone  in  regard  to  the  press  but  it  seems  to  me  that  we 
can  do  nothing  but  voice  disappointment  at  the  present  situation. 
I  come  from  a  city  of  more  than  700,000  inhabitants,  a  very  pro- 
gressive city  that  has  grown  so  enormously  as  to  make  the  con- 


198       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

ditions  that  might  arise  necessary  for  supervision  on  the  part 
of  the  most  important  of  our  citizenship. 

I  say  this,  that  we  have  the  largest  number  of  organized 
club  women  in  the  world  in  this  city,  and  since  they  are  women 
of  more  or  less  leisure  we  have  considered  the  welfare  of  this 
city  very  seriously  and  I  want  to  tell  you  that  we  have  done  work 
and  received  hearty  co-operation  from  our  newspapers  until 
the  close  of  the  war.  We  have  this  situation  since  peace  was  de- 
clared: there  has  been  this  era  of  commercialism  and  to  our 
dismay  we  suddenly  found  that  the  powers  of  the  press  were 
now  in  the  hands  of  the  commercial  interests.  We  have  a  very 
rich  city,  a  very  rich  organization  and  very  fine  business.  Our 
banks  are  large  advertisers  and  they  control  all  of  the  businesses 
to  which  they  loan  money.  The  power  of  the  press  resides  in 
the  large  business  interests.  W^e  are  really  prohibited  now  from 
doing  our  work.  We  have  probably  a  membership  of  at  least 
15,000  earnest,  intelligent  women,  who  have  been  getting  results, 
and  we  ought  to  be  a  factor  in  the  continued  upbuilding  of  our 
city  and  we  are  paralyzed  by  the  fact  that  our  newspapers  are 
now  owned  by  the  commercial  interests. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  At  this  time  the  chair  is  pleased  to 
report  that  three  additional  members  of  the  Australian  delega- 
tion have  arrived  to  attend  the  Congress  sessions,  with  Mr. 
Davies  at  the  head.  They  will  be  heard  during  the  coming  ses- 
sions of  the  Congress. 

Among  the  many  great  buildings  of  Shanghai  is  the  build- 
ing occupied  by  the  Shun  Pao,  which,  if  I  mistake  not,  has  the 
largest  circulation  of  any  newspaper  published  in  the  Republic 
of  China.  The  next  speaker  on  the  morning  program  comes  to 
us  from  the  Shun  Pao,  Mr.  K.  P.  Wang. 

MR.  WANG :  Mr.  Chairman  and  members  of  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World :  It  is  indeed  a  great  pleasure  and  honor 
for  me  to  be  present  here  in  this  Congress  to  represent  the  Shun 
Pao,  the  leading  newspaper  in  China.  I  am  also  glad  to  state 
that  the  Shun  Pao  has  accepted  most  readily  the  invitation  to  the 
Congress  and  has  resolved  most  promptly  to  send  representatives 
to  participate  in  the  Congress'  programme,  because  we  think  that 
China  has  had  too  few  opportunities  to  have  privileges  to  take 
part  in  international  gatherings,  especially  in  gatherings  of  this 


Proceedinss  of  the  Congress  199 

nature,  where  only  peoples  of  different  nationalities,  instead  of 
government  officials,  are  present,  and  where  discussions  and  de- 
liberations are  free  from  diplomatic  conventions  and  political 
complications,  and  because  we  further  think  that  a  leading  daily 
like  the  Shun  Pao  should  make  herself  acquainted  with  news- 
papers of  other  countries,  and  in  conjunction  with  other  mem- 
bers of  the  Congress  help  to  accelerate  the  advancement  of  the 
journalistic  profession  of  the  world. 

During  the  last  few  decades,  China  has  become  one  of  the 
most  important  members  in  the  family  of  nations,  and  the  press 
in  China  has  also  become  one  of  the  greatest  factors  in  China's 
progress  and  reconstruction.  It  is  therefore  not  altogether  out  of 
place  for  me  to  spend  a  few  minutes  here  to  discuss  the  relation- 
ship between  China  and  the  press  world.  Probably  a  few  words 
about  the  history  of  press  and  printing  in  China  would  be  a 
proper  introduction.  The  press,  as  it  is  understood  by  the 
western  nations,  is  still  in  its  period  of  infancy  in  China,  but 
China  has  a  rather  long  and  interesting  history  of  newspaper  life. 
She  holds  the  distinction  of  being  the  first  country  to  start  the 
newspaper.  As  far  back  as  the  second  century,  B.  C,  diunng 
the  Han  Dynasty,  China  began  to  have  circular  papers.  They 
were  in  forms  of  periodical  reports  prepared  by  residential  rep- 
resentatives of  feudal  lords  of  different  states  at  the  capital  to 
keep  their  lords  and  home  officials  well-informed  about  the  edicts 
and  decrees  issued  by  the  emperors.  Later  during  the  Tang 
Dynasty,  about  the  middle  of  the  seventh  century,  these  feudal 
reports  changed  their  forms  into  governmental  gazettes,  which 
were  issued  by  the  Government  itself  instead.  These  gazettes 
generally  contained  information  of  official  promotions  and  re- 
movals, principal  ministers'  memoranda  and  recommendations, 
and  new  orders  and  laws  authorized  by  the  emperors.  It  is  also 
during  this  period  that  the  first  newspaper  in  China  as  well  as 
in  the  whole  world  was  born.  During  the  reign  of  Emperor 
Yuantsung,  which  lasted  from  the  year  713  to  the  year  755,  a 
magazine  was  founded  known  as  the  "Kai  Yuan"  magazine.  As 
far  as  histories  go,  this  is  the  first  newspaper  ever  recorded  on 
any  historical  annals  of  any  nation. 

However,  the  word  press  generally  carries  the  idea  of  print- 
ing and  until  the  art  of  printing  was  discovered,  there  could  not 


200       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

be  any  press  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word.  Just  as  the  news- 
paper made  its  initial  entrance  to  the  world  through  China,  print- 
ing was  also  first  invented  by  Chinese  artisans.  Movable  types 
were  first  used  in  China  in  1045,  when  a  blacksmith  named  Pi 
Shing  began  to  use  types  made  of  plastic  clay.  On  the  soft  sur- 
face of  a  plate  of  clay.  Pi  Shing  cut  out  the  characters,  which 
were  later  hardened  by  fire.  From  this  cut  plate  of  clay,  porce- 
lain types  were  then  moulded.  The  porcelain  types,  when  in 
use,  were  set  up  in  a  frame  of  iron  partitioned  off  by  strips,  and 
inserted  in  a  cement  of  wax,  resin,  and  lime  to  fasten  them  down. 
The  printing  was  generally  done  by  rubbing,  and  when  the  proc- 
esses were  completed,  the  types  were  loosened  by  melting  the 
cement  and  then  made  clean  for  another  impression.  However, 
prior  to  the  use  of  movable  types,  there  was  printing  in  China 
already,  which  was  usually  done  by  wooden  or  stone  blocks  with 
characters  carved  on.  Rubbing  was  also  the  usual  way  of  re- 
production. As  early  as  175,  Emperor  Lingti  of  the  Han  Dynasty 
ordered  all  the  classics  carved  on  stone  tablets  to  be  posted  in 
front  of  imperial  palaces  so  that  the  scholars  could  have  the  op- 
portunity to  rub  the  impressions  from  them. 

The  above  is  a  brief  history  of  the  press  and  printing  in 
China.  Though  China  employed  movable  types  five  hundred  years 
earlier  than  Gutenburg  cut  his  matrices  at  Mainz,  yet  today  in 
China  the  press,  as  such,  is  still  more  or  less  undeveloped,  leaving 
plenty  of  room  for  improvement  and  progress.  In  the  first  place, 
there  are  not  enough  newspapers  in  the  country  to  serve  the 
public.  Then  again  most  of  the  papers  which  exist  today  are  not 
conducted  along  modern  lines.  Only  a  few  of  them  are  acquainted 
with  up-to-date  journalistic  principles  and  management.  Ad- 
vertising rates  are  altogether  too  low  to  support  the  papers. 
Their  circulation  figures  are  mostly  insignificant,  and  the  majority 
of  newspaper  workers  have  not  received  the  proper  training. 
The  equipments  for  the  papers  are  as  a  whole  incomplete.  In 
the  matter  of  news  service,  there  are  too  few  out-port  corre- 
spondents, and  yet  these  correspondents  generally  send  the  bulk 
of  news  through  mails  rather  than  through  telegrams.  Editorial 
policies,  as  such,  are  practically  unknown  to  most  of  the  Chinese 
editors,  except  policies  which  make  the  papers  appear  partisan 
and  partial. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  201 

Nevertheless  such  a  state  of  affairs  existing  in  the  news- 
paper world  in  China  today  does  not  mean  that  we  should  feel 
discouraged.  The  present  tendencies  all  indicate  a  better  day. 
The  fact  that  the  general  public  of  the  country  gradually  feel 
the  necessity  and  importance  of  the  press  should  be  taken  as  a 
source  of  inspiration.  In  all  the  big  political,  economic,  educa- 
tional and  social  problems  of  the  country,  everybody  has  to  look 
for  news  from  the  papers  as  well  as  for  opinions  expressed  by 
the  editorial  comments  of  the  papers ;  and  very  often,  they  would 
borrow  the  space  of  the  papers  to  publish  their  own  views  about 
these  problems.  During  the  revolutionary  period  some  ten  years 
ago,  the  press  in  China  played  such  an  important  role  that  it 
can  be  safely  said  that  the  revolution  was  only  made  successful 
through  the  utterings  of  the  newspapers.  Since  then,  more  and 
more  papers  have  been  established,  and  the  number  of  publica- 
tions has  been  increasing  all  the  time.  Modern  newspaper  plants 
are  being  constructed  and  up-to-date  printing  machinery  are 
being  ordered.  The  old  class  of  editors,  who  are  merely  literari 
and  poets,  are  being  replaced  by  graduates  from  colleges,  who  are 
fully  equipped  with  modern  knowledge  of  sciences  and  lan- 
guages. As  the  people  are  getting  more  and  more  educated,  the 
reading  public  is  being  enlarged  and  hence  the  circulation  is  being 
increased.  The  day  is  not  far  now  when  China  will  have  a 
press  as  strong  and  as  efficient  as  that  of  any  country. 

That  the  Chinese  press  is  already  exerting  its  influence  in 
China  now  can  not  be  denied.  A  few  simple  statistical  facts 
will  prove  its  popularity  and  strength.  In  spite  of  the  fact  that 
there  is  such  an  extent  of  territory  and  there  is  no  adequate 
communication  throughout  the  country,  we  have  secured  the 
following  statistics  as  authentic  and  accurate  as  obtainable.  Ac- 
cording to  the  figures  kept  by  the  statistical  department  of  the 
Shun  Pao  there  are  now  in  China  1,134  publications  of  one  kind 
or  the  other;  and  when  classified  there  are  daily,  550;  weekly, 
154;  monthly,  303  ;  yearly,  1 ;  quarterly,  4;  half -monthly,  45  ;  half- 
yearly,  1 ;  bi-monthly,  1 ;  bi-weekly,  5 ;  bi-daily,  6 ;  every  ten  days, 
46 ;  every  five  days,  9 ;  and  every  three  days,  9.  Among  the  above 
papers,  there  are  26  of  them  published  by  foreigners  in  foreign 
language;  15  of  them  being  published  by  the  British;  4  by  the 
Americans ;  4  by  the  Japanese ;  and  3  by  the  French  ;  18  of  them 


202       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

being  published  daily,  4  weekly,  and  4  monthly.  Many  other 
papers  published  in  Chinese  language  are  also  identified  with  for- 
eign interests,  in  fact  though  not  in  name.  Also  there  are  five 
other  daily  papers,  appearing  in  English  language  but  owned  by 
Chinese. 

As  it  is  the  case  in  other  countries,  China  also  has  her  news- 
paper centers.  Peking  and  Shanghai  are  the  cities  where  the  in- 
fluence of  the  press  is  felt  the  most.  In  Peking  alone,  there  are 
in  all  92  daily  papers,  including  publications  of  every  nature  and 
every  description.  These  papers  contain  most  of  the  political 
news  of  the  country,  presenting  the  stories  from  diflferent  angles 
and  under  different  shades.  Shanghai  is  a  commercial  center, 
and  so  the  papers  there  publish  more  economic  and  commercial 
news  than  papers  of  other  cities.  Monthly  publications  seem  to 
have  found  more  room  in  Shanghai  than  the  dailies ;  the  number 
of  monthlies  published  in  Shanghai  is  63,  while  that  of  the 
dailies  is  only  31.  Canton,  Hankow  and  Tientsin  are  the  other 
journalistic  centers  of  the  country,  but  none  of  them  can  be  in  any 
way  compared  with  Shanghai  and  Peking.  Editorial  expressions 
published  at  Canton,  Hankow  and  Tientsin  do  not  carry  as  much 
weight  as  expected,  and  the  papers  from  those  cities  do  not  cir- 
culate very  far.  A  few  of  the  foreign  newspapers  in  China 
have  also  established  a  high  standing  and  prestige,  and  very  often 
their  editorials  are  translated  by  the  Chinese  papers. 

In  the  whole  history  of  the  Chinese  press,  the  Shun  Pao  has 
always,  as  it  does  today,  enjoyed  the  reputation  as  the  leading 
newspaper  in  China.  It  has  had  a  long  and  bright  history  and  it 
has  won  a  deserving  and  lasting  prestige.  It  reaches  every  class 
of  people,  and  its  influence  is  felt  by  all.  It  has  become  so  pop- 
ular that  its  title  Shun  Pao  has  become  a  common  name  to  people 
living  in  the  interior  parts  of  the  country — in  country  villages  and 
small  towns,  the  name  "Shun  Pao"  has  long  been  a  substitute 
word  for  "newspapers."  The  Shun  Pao  has  a  net  circulation  of 
42,000  copies  every  day,  which  is  about  the  largest  circulation 
figure  China  ever  possesses.  And  when  we  think  of  the  fact, 
which  is  peculiar  to  China  alone,  that  a  newspaper  passes  to  many 
neighbors  to  be  read  before  it  reaches  the  waste  basket,  this  cir- 
culation figure  would  be  increased  to  manifold  if  every  reader 
would  subscribe  for  a  copy.   The  figure  42,000  is  certainly  incom- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  203 

parable  with  the  circulation  figure  of  papers  in  other  countries. 
But  China  is  a  country  where  communication  is  so  inadequate 
and  the  number  of  educated  persons  is  so  limited  that  it  is  hard 
to  build  a  big  circulation  in  one  day. 

Among  all  the  newspapers  in  China  at  present,  the  Shun  Pao 
is  the  oldest  one.  It  was  established  on  the  thirtieth  of  April, 
1872,  when  the  paper  was  running  on  a  very  small  scale,  appear- 
ing merely  in  the  form  of  single  news  sheets  every  day.  Not 
until  1915  a  small  rotary  press  of  French  type  without  folder 
was  used  and  the  number  of  pages  for  every  day's  issue  was 
increased  to  twenty.  In  1918,  owing  to  the  ever  increasing  de- 
mand for  a  modern  plant,  a  new  building  was  completed.  It  was 
in  November  of  that  year  that  all  Shanghai  residents  witnessed 
the  inauguration  of  the  new  home  of  the  Shun  Pao,  which  is 
a  reinforced  concrete  fire-proof  structure  of  five  stories.  In  ad- 
dition to  the  huge  building,  a  Sextuple  forty-eight  page  Rotary 
Press  driven  by  a  forty  horse  power  motor  was  installed,  which 
was  the  first  of  the  kind  ever  put  up  in  China.  Office  work  be- 
gan to  be  departmentalized  and  handled  by  specialists,  and  the 
time-honored  policy  of  strict  impartiality  began  to  be  crystallized. 
Owing  to  the  leadership  of  the  director  and  untiring  effort  of  the 
stafif,  the  Shun  Pao  is  today  by  far  the  most  influential  newspaper 
throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of  the  Republic  of  China. 

Now  permit  me  to  say  just  a  few  words  about  the  reason 
why  the  press  is  so  important  in  the  present  day  China.  China 
is  now  facing  her  hardest  period,  the  period  of  reconstruction. 
She  has  so  many  knotty  domestic  questions  to  tackle  and  so 
many  complicated  international  problems  to  solve  that  she  needs 
most  urgently  the  help  and  guidance  of  public  opinion.  In  these 
days  of  internationalization,  and  in  these  days  when  the  problems 
of  the  Pacific  deserve  the  greatest  attention  of  the  world,  the 
destiny  of  China  is  the  destiny  of  the  world.  In  rebuilding  China 
into  a  great  nation,  the  responsibility  should  not  be  shouldered 
by  China  alone,  but  must  be  shared  by  all  nations,  because  the 
rise  or  fall  of  China  afifects  the  welfare  of  the  world  as  a  whole. 
The  Shun  Pao  and  other  newspapers  that  control  the  public 
opinion  in  China  today  have  pledged  themselves  to  exert  their 
best  ability  and  power  to  serve  China.  But  in  such  a  great  task, 
the  assistance  and   co-operation  of   the  press  of   other   friendly 


204       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

powers  are  most  earnestly  solicited,  for  the  Chinese  press,  which 
is  so  inadequate  and  insignificant,  cannot  undertake  the  work 
alone.  We  must  ask  the  sympathy  and  support  from  the  press 
of  other  countries. 

Among  all  the  things  that  the  Chinese  press  world  needs  most 
today  is  the  organization  of  an  efficient  and  well-intentioned  in- 
ternational news  agency,  jointly  supported  by  the  press  of  both 
China  and  other  nations.  China  has  long  felt  such  a  need,  be- 
cause she  does  not  get  enough  information  from  the  western 
countries  for  the  reading  public.  On  the  other  hand,  the  press 
in  the  foreign  countries  are  also  very  much  handicapped  by  the 
absence  of  authentic  and  valuable  information  about  China. 
Whatever  foreign  news  appears  in  Chinese  papers  is  either  too 
far  behind  or  too  brief  to  comprehend.  Any  reading  materials 
about  China  published  in  foreign  papers  mostly  consists  of  short 
reports  of  insignificant  events  and  wrong  representations  of 
political  and  social  problems.  There  has  been  too  little  sympa- 
thetic news  service  both  in  China  and  in  foreign  countries ;  and 
a  well-organized  international  news  agency  would  be  the  best 
remedy  for  the  situation.  Such  an  agency  should  invite  upright 
newspaper  men  both  from  China  and  from  other  nations  to  be  on 
the  staff  so  that  all  parties  concerned  could  get  the  best  ben- 
efit therefrom.  Each  member  of  the  staff  should  get  out  accurate 
news  and  profitable  informations  about  his  own  country  to  be 
furnished  to  papers  of  other  nations.  If  such  an  agency  should 
include  all  principal  countries  of  the  world  and  work  together 
in  proper  co-operative  basis,  it  would  be  a  useful  and  important 
journalistic  enterprise  of  the  world. 

In  conclusion  let  me  make  clear  that  I  am  not  here  today  just 
to  give  you  a  brief  history  of  the  press  and  printing  in  China,  nor 
am  I  here  today  to  present  to  you  a  short  description  of  the 
Chinese  press  as  existing  in  China  at  the  present  moment  and 
to  tell  you  the  development  and  progress  of  the  Shun  Pao.  I 
have  a  much  bigger  and  a  more  important  mission  than  these.  I 
am  here  today  on  behalf  of  the  Shun  Pao  to  deliver  a  message  to 
you,  members  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  to  request 
you  to  give  a  helping  hand  to  China  to  restore  her  life  and  vigor 
again,  to  insure  peace  and  order  in  the  Pacific  regions,  and  "to 
make  the  world  safe  for  democracy."     The  world  civilization  has 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  205 

come  to  such  a  state  that  we  must  have  a  bigger  vision  to  look 
at  the  world  problems  than  before.  Racial  prejudices  must  be 
discarded,  and  people's  diplomacy  should  rule  the  day.  Asia  is 
no  longer  a  far-off  continent  and  China  is  no  longer  a  se- 
cluded country.  Proper  and  authentic  publicity  about  China 
should  supersede  ridiculous  story  telling,  and  friendly  and 
helpful  advices  should  be  introduced  in  place  of  sarcastic  and 
sometimes  contemptous  comments.  The  world  is  no  longer  a 
world  of  governments,  but  it  has  become  a  world  of  peoples.  If 
the  peoples  of  the  world  cannot  sympathize  and  help  one  another 
to  bring  about  the  world's  salvation,  what  will  be  the  hope  and 
destiny  of  the  world's  civilization?  In  my  opinion,  and  in  the 
opinion  of  the  Shun  Pao,  there  is  nothing  more  beneficial  to 
future  happiness  of  mankind  than  to  effect  a  better  understand- 
ing and  to  seek  for  a  more  sympathetic  co-operation  among  the 
peoples  of  the  world.  This  is  the  reason  why  I  am  here,  and  this 
is  the  reason  why  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  is  organized. 
Let  us  all  take  this  as  the  supreme  aim  of  this  Congress.  (Ap- 
plause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  Having  heard  the  illuminating  paper  of 
Mr.  Wang  regarding  China  and  Chinese  journalism,  and  the 
hopes  that  are  entertained,  we  come  a  little  nearer  geographically 
to  these  islands — slightly  nearer  I  think — and  will  now  hear 
from  Mr.  Henry  Chung  of  the  New  Korea,  representing  the 
journalists  of  Korea. 

MR.  CHUNG :  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen :  Before 
I  begin  my  address  I  want  to  say  a  little  word,  and  that  is  I 
bring  cordial  greetings  and  sincere  good  wishes  from  all  Korean 
journals  and  journalists. 

In  the  paper  I  am  going  to  read  to  you  I  have  purposely  elim- 
inated any  mention  of  the  Korean  question  because  I  am  de- 
sirous to  avoid  all  questions  partisan  or  propaganda  in  nature. 
I  am  going  to  speak  to  you  as  a  publisher  of  a  paper  not  belong- 
ing to  any  one  particular  country. 

Some  time  ago  a  prominent  American  journalist  made  a  state- 
ment that  the  age  in  which  we  live  is  an  age  of  lies  and  liars. 
The  world  war  was  started  by  lies  and  liars  and  was  won  by  lies 
and  liars. 


206       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

That  is  indeed  a  very  challenging  statement,  and  brings  to 
the  fore  once  again  the  time-honored  adage  that  the  pen  is 
mightier  than  the  sword.  It  also  raises  the  question  as  to  what 
is  a  lie.  Perhaps  the  definition  of  deceitfulness  given  by  Oscar 
Wilde  might  be  applicable  in  the  case  of  newspapermen.  Oscar 
Wilde  once  said  what  we  commonly  call  deceitfulness  on  the 
part  of  some  people  is  nothing  more  than  multiplicity  of  per- 
sonality. But  in  case  of  the  newspaper  man  it  is  versatility  and 
adaptability  necessary  to  his  profession,  and  not  multiplicity  of 
personality. 

Is  it  true  that  the  pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword?  If  so 
how  should  we  wield  this  powerful  weapon  to  promote  better  re- 
lations between  nations? 

No  reform  of  any  consequence  has  ever  been  brought  about 
without  the  assistance  of  the  pen,  and  quite  often  the  pen  has 
been  mainly  instrumental  in  bringing  about  a  reform.  Con- 
sider for  a  moment,  if  you  please,  the  influence  of  the  writings 
of  Voltaire  and  Rousseau  on  the  French  Revolution,  of  the  work 
of  Thomas  Paine  and  Alexander  Hamilton  on  the  revolutionary 
and  constitutional  periods  of  American  history,  and  of  the  writ- 
ings of  William  Lloyd  Garrison  and  Harriet  Beecher  Stowe  on 
the  abolition  of  slavery.  When  the  world  war  was  started  the 
first  thing  that  the  British  Government  did  was  to  take  over 
all  the  cable  and  wireless  communications  to  all  the  parts  of  the 
world  in  so  far  as  it  was  possible  for  Great  Britain  to  do  so, 
and  keep  them  free  from  enemy  interference.  When  America 
entered  the  wa;r.  President  Wilson  promptly  established  the 
Bureau  of  Public  Information  to  educate  the  public.  I  am  not 
praising,  nor  condemning  Mr.  George  Creel,  who,  as  the  chief 
of  that  bureau,  received  no  small  amount  of  criticism.  I  am 
simply  mentioning  that  bureau  as  a  necessary  auxiliary  to  the 
government  during  the  war.  The  work  performed  by  Ray  Stan- 
nard  Baker  at  Paris  as  the  publicity  man  of  the  American  del- 
egation was  a  necessary  part  of  the  many  laborious  functions  of 
the  delegation.  One  reason  why  Secretary  Hughes  did  not  yield 
an  inch  in  his  negotiations  with  Japan  on  the  Yap  controversy  is 
because  he  realizes  the  strategic  importance  of  that  island  as  a 
cable  station  keeping  the  communication  channels  between  the 
East  and  West  open. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  207 

All  these  illustrate  the  important  role  the  publicist  and  profes- 
sion play  in  international  affairs.  There  is  no  question  that  the 
modern  newspaper  is  a  power — a  power  that  can  be  used  either 
for  good  or  for  bad.  In  former  days  of  American  journalism 
there  were  a  number  of  remarkable  individual  journalists  whose 
ideas  molded  public  opinion  and  to  whom  the  public  looked  for 
guidance.  Horace  Greeley,  Charles  A.  Dana,  James  Gordon 
Bennett,  Joseph  Pulitzer  and  Henry  Watterson  were  a  few  of  the 
exponents  of  this  school  of  individual  journalism.  In  those  days 
the  newspapers  were  the  vehicle  of  expression  of  the  personalty 
and  character  of  these  individual  journalists,  and  the  public  was 
able  to  trace  the  responsibility  for  statements  made  by  them. 
Each  newspaper  had  a  personalty  of  its  own.  It  was  in  the  day 
when  the  individual  came  before  the  corporation,  and  the  man 
before  the  machine.  Thus  far  in  history  nearly  every  reform  of 
lasting  character  has  been  brought  by  individuals,  not  by  ma- 
chines. If  I  had  a  thousand  dollars — which  I  haven't — I  would 
invest  it  not  in  the  biggest  investment  concern,  but  in  a  concern 
managed  by  the  most  trustworthy  individuals.  It  is  indeed  for- 
tunate for  the  public  that  a  few  journals  the  world  over  still 
rigidly  adhere  to  their  distinct  character  and  personality  regard- 
less of  its  popularity.  But  the  good  old  days  are  gone,  and  pos- 
sibilities are  that  we  shall  never  go  back  to  them  again.  Corpora- 
tions have  replaced  individuals,  and  syndicates  control  small  news- 
papers. Bigness  and  sensationalism  seem  to  be  the  spirit  and 
tendency  of  the  modern  newspaper. 

A  few  weeks  ago  while  the  Arbuckle  trial  was  occupying  the 
front  page  of  every  newspaper  in  the  United  States,  there  was  a 
convention  of  world-wide  significance  held  in  New  York  City. 
It  was  the  convention  of  chemists.  These  scientists  discussed 
matters  that  might  revolutionize  the  industry  of  the  world.  Yet 
how  many  newspapers  gave  any  lengthy  space  to  their  discus- 
sions? To  be  sure,  the  profound  deliberations  of  the  chemists 
assembled  in  New  York  would  be  dry  and  uninteresting  to  the 
average  reader,  while  a  scandal  such  as  the  Arbuckle  trial  is 
highly  sensational.  And  people  like  to  read  sensational  things — 
I  mean  the  average  people.  It  is  a  debatable  question  whether 
the  newspaper  should  give  the  people  what  they  want  regardless 
of  the  ethics  of  the  question  involved,  or  should  the  newspaper 


208       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

consider  the  people  as  a  parent  looks  upon  his  children  and  give 
them  only  what  they  ought  to  have.  The  most  we  could  hope 
to  accomplish  in  dealing  with  human  nature  is  a  compromise. 
We  should  give  our  readers  what  they  would  like  to  read  mixed 
with  what  they  ought  to  read.  In  this  way,  the  newspaper  of 
today  will  be  able  to  serve  and  please  the  people,  at  the  same  time 
leading  them  along  the  path  of  progress. 

The  modern  news-gathering  facilities  have  never  been  equaled 
in  history.  They  eliminate  distance  and  bind,  if  properly  utilized, 
all  peoples  of  the  world  into  a  great  family  of  mutual  understand- 
ing and  harmonious  co-operation.  But  here  is  the  danger  of 
these  powerful  agencies  being  controlled  by  financial  interests  or 
ambitious  governments.  The  only  way  to  keep  the  vehicle  of 
public  opinion  on  the  high  road  to  truth  and  idealism  is  to  de- 
velop a  group  of  journalists  of  vision  and  high  caliber.  Their 
business  it  is  to  have  a  thorough  knowledge  of  international  af- 
fairs so  that  they  may  aid  their  statesmen  in  developing  interna- 
tional comity  and  good  relationship.  They  should  study  assiduous- 
ly the  government  and  people  of  other  nations,  so  that  they  may 
understand  the  motive  and  aspiration  of  other  nations.  Quite 
often  misunderstandings  magnify  small  issues  and  cause  many  un- 
necessary frictions  between  nations.  Once  Charles  Lamb  said  of 
a  man,  "I  hate  that  fellow."  Lamb's  friend  said,  "Why  do  you 
hate  him?  Do  you  know  him?"  Lamb  replied,  "No,  I  do  not.  I 
never  hate  a  man  that  I  know." 

Here  I  regret  to  say  that  the  average  American  newspaper 
man  has  a  very  limited  knowledge  of  the  affairs  of  other  coun- 
tries, especially  the  Oriental  countries.  Difficulty  in  mastering 
the  Oriental  languages  is  perhaps  the  main  reason.  This  lack 
of  understanding  of  the  Far  Eastern  situation  often  leads  them 
to  play  unwittingly  into  the  hands  of  clever  government  propa- 
gandists in  the  Orient.  I  personally  know  a  number  of  American 
publicists  who  went  to  the  Far  East  to  investigate.  They  were 
well-meaning  and  unsuspecting.  They  unknowingly  fell  into 
the  hands  of  a  govermnent  propaganda.  The  result  was  they  saw 
nothing  but  what  that  government  wanted  them  to  see  and  heard 
nothing  but  what  that  government  wanted  them  to  hear.  They 
came  back  home  in  a  happy  haze  of  pleasant  impressions  ever 
praising  that  government  for  the  wonderful  work  it  was  doing. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  209 

The  ideal  and  aim  of  a  publicist  should  be  seeking  truth ;  and 
after  having  found  it  he  should  tell  it  to  his  readers  regardless 
of  consequences.  Truth-telling  in  international  matters  is  not 
always  a  pleasant  task.  But  we  must  keep  in  mind  that  no 
lasting  peace  can  be  founded  on  falsity.  Despite  all  the  high- 
sounding  principles  of  peace  enunciated  by  our  peace  advocates, 
there  are  at  this  moment  fourteen  principal  nations  having  6,000,- 

000  soldiers  under  arms.  These  are  the  grim  facts  which  the 
newspaper  man  cannot  afford  to  lose  sight  of.  I  wish  to  take 
this  occasion  to  present  to  you  the  lurking  dangers  in  news- 
gathering  agencies  that  are  owned,  controlled  or  subsidized  by 
their  governments.  I  have  often  noticed  that  whenever  a  gov- 
ernment subsidizes  a  news  agency,  it  does  so  with  the  intention 
of  using  it  as  its  propaganda  channel.  Often  such  a  syndicate 
may  magnify  or  minimize,  create  or  suppress  news  to  serve  the 
purpose  of  that  government.  Such  an  agency  is  no  respecter  of 
truth.  I  have  in  my  mind  a  news  agency  that  is  not  only  sub- 
sidized but  established  and  controlled  by  its  government,  and 
the  news  it  distributes  is  utterly  unreliable.     In  this  connection 

1  may  say  that  we  cannot  praise  too  highly  the  splendid  service 
which  the  Associated  Press  renders  to  the  newspapers  in  America. 
Its  fairness  and  impartiality  may  well  be  emulated  by  news- 
gathering  agencies  of  other  countries. 

The  best  way  to  keep  the  press  of  the  world  free  from  propa- 
ganda of  any  sort  is  to  develop  a  group  of  newspapermen  of 
high  caliber  and  character  in  every  country — men  who  will  not 
be  mystified  by  decorations  from  kings  and  potentates,  nor  be 
deceived  by  lavish  entertainment  of  ambitious  governments. 
Every  newspaperman  must  be  made  to  realize  that  he  is  an  apostle 
of  truth  and  an  advocate  of  righteousness.  He  must  not  be  afraid 
to  attack  kings  and  princes  if  need  be,  nor  to  hesitate  to  advocate 
the  rights  of  the  humble  and  lowly  when  humanity  and  justice 
demand  it.  He  should  be  progressive  enough  to  be  thoroughly 
open  to  new  ideas  and  at  the  same  time  have  a  profound  regard 
for  traditional  institutions  of  the  past  which  contributed  so  rich- 
ly to  the  achievement  of  modern  civilization. 

Imperialism,  political  or  economic,  is  at  the  bottom  of  all 
modern  wars.  Publicity  is  the  greatest  enemy  of  imperialistic 
tendencies.    In  this  respect  we  may  well  consider  the  newspaper- 

14 


210       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

man  of  today  as  a  soldier  of  truth  fighting  the  battle  for  the  cause 
of  human  justice.  Here  we  must  remember  that  an  ounce  of 
preventive  is  far  more  effective  than  tons  of  remedy.  Especially 
is  it  true  in  international  affairs.  The  world  is  getting  smaller, 
and  what  affects  one  corner  of  the  earth  is  bound  to  affect  all 
the  rest.  If  you  see  a  sore  spot  of  imperialism  anywhere,  turn 
on  your  ray  of  publicity  and  apply  the  radium  cure  of  public 
condemnation  to  that  nation.  Otherwise  you  will  have  to  perform 
an  operation  on  the  battlefield  which  always  involves  hardship 
and  sacrifice. 

It  is  particularly  fitting  and  proper  that  this  Congress  should 
be  held  in  Hawaii  which  lies  at  the  crossroads  of  the  Pacific. 
You  will  agree  with  me  when  I  say  that  the  trouble  center  of 
the  world  has  been  transferred  from  the  Balkans  to  the  Orient, 
and  the  great  Powers  of  the  world  are  preparing  for  a  settlement. 
In  the  future,  the  Pacific,  not  the  Atlantic,  will  be  the  center  of 
political,  commercial  and  possibly  naval  activities  of  the  world. 
It  is  the  duty  of  the  journalists  of  the  nations  surrounding  the 
Pacific  to  fight  governmental  propaganda,  whether  it  is  Oriental 
or  Occidental,  and  present  the  truth,  the  whole  truth,  and  nothing 
but  the  truth  to  the  people  of  their  respective  countries,  so  that 
the  people,  the  sovereigns  of  each  nation,  may  see  the  issues  in- 
volved with  clear  vision  and  go  forward  to  meet  them  with  good 
faith  and  unflinching  courage.  Mutual  understanding  based  on 
truth  will  eventually  pave  the  way  for  mutual  good  will  and 
friendly  co-operation.  By  making  it  possible  for  nations  to  un- 
derstand each  other  truthfully,  the  journalist  of  today  will  prove 
once  again  the  time-honored  maxim  that  the  pen  is  mightier  than 
the  sword,  and  will  render  an  invaluable  service  to  the  cause  of 
international  justice  and  comity.  (Applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  What  Mr.  Chung  has  so  well  said  ap- 
peals I  am  confident  to  the  members  of  the  profession. 

The  last  speaker  on  the  formal  program  comes  to  us  from  our 
next-door  neighbor  of  the  West,  or  shall  I  say  of  the  East,  our 
nearest  neighbor.  It  is  my  genuine  privilege  to  present  to  you  now 
my  old  friend — I  use  the  word  "old"  as  an  evidence  of  affection, 
not  of  antiquity — my  old  friend  Mr.  M.  Zumoto,  of  Tokyo,  Japan, 
editor  of  the  Herald  of  Asia. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  211 

MR.  ZUMOTO:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Be- 
fore proceeding  with  the  reading  of  my  paper  I  wish  to  take  this 
opportunity  of  extending  to  you  an  invitation  from  the  press  of 
Japan  to  come  over  and  hold  your  next  session  in  Japan.  Now, 
we  do  not  mean  to  compete  with  our  friends  from  China.  If 
the  next  Congress  is  held  in  China  it  would  please  us  just  as 
much  as  if  it  were  held  in  Japan,  but  as  a  matter  of  physical  se- 
cjuence  I  think  Japan  is  the  logical  place  for  the  next  session  of 
the  Congress.  It  was  first  held  in  San  Francisco  and  it  has 
traveled  Westward  so  far  as  this  place  in  mid-ocean,  and  so  the 
next  place  you  will  touch  on  your  westward  course  will  neces- 
sarily be  Japan,  and  if  the  next  session  is  held  in  Japan  we 
promise  you,  Dr.  Tong,  and  other  friends  from  China,  that  we 
will  take  good  care  that  every  one  of  the  delegates  coming  to 
Japan  shall  pass  on  to  China  later. 

Now,  coming  to  my  paper,  I  feel  that  on  more  than  one  point 
I  may  infringe  on  the  Constitution  of  this  Congress,  for  I  am 
going  to  talk  to  you  about  something  which  is  very  much  like 
policies  and  politics.  However,  I  crave  your  indulgence,  Mr. 
President,  and  yours.  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  for  this  will  be  my 
first  and  last  offense. 

[As  Mr.  Zumoto's  paper  dealt  in  considerable  measure  with 
international  politics  and  as  it  has  been  published  in  full  else- 
where, it  is,  with  Mr.  Zumoto's  generous  and  cordial  consent, 
omitted   from   this   volume. — Editor.] 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  thoughtful  and  intelligent  paper 
presented  by  Mr.  Zumoto  has  I  am  confident  been  received  by  you 
with  interest. 

The  invitation  presented  by  Mr.  Zumoto,  to  hold  the  next 
session  of  the  Congress  in  Japan,  will  be  referred  to  the  Executive 
Committee  with  appreciation  and  thanks. 

The  Congress  will  now  be  in  recess  until  two  o'clock. 


F'lI'TH   SESSION. 

TUESDAY  AFTERNOON,  OCTOBER  18,  1921. 

Congress  was  called  to  order  at  two  p.   m.    President  Wil- 
liams in  the  chair. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  first  speaker  on  the  program  this 


212       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

afternoon  is  Colonel  E.  F.  Lawson  of   Great  Britain,  whom  I 
have  the  honor  of  presenting  to  you. 

COLONEL  LAWSON :  Mr.  President,  Fellow  Delegates :  I 
venture  to  suggest  to  the  President  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World  the  desirability  of  the  representatives  of  the  World's  press 
here  assembled  passing  some  form  of  resolution  affirming  their 
belief  in  the  value  of  cheapened  means  of  communication  in  pro- 
viding better  international  understanding  and  sympathy,  and 
pledging  the  efforts  of  the  members  present  to  endeavor  in  their 
own  countries  to  urge  the  improvement  and  cheapening  of  all 
means  of  international  communication.  The  President  was  good 
enough  to  agree  with  my  suggestion  and  to  permit  me  to  move  the 
resolution  which  I  subjected  to  his  approval. 

In  submitting  this  resolution  I  shall  assume  that  no  one  here 
disputes  the  desirability  of  improved  communications.  There 
may  be  people  in  the  world  who  have  a  vested  interested  in  ig- 
norance, but  they  are  not  to  be  found  in  a  gathering  of  repre- 
sentatives of  the  World's  press. 

There  are  many  physicians  who  claim  to  have  knowledge  of 
"the  panacea"  for  the  world's  ills.  But  in  so  far  as  those  ills  are 
the  result  of  international  misunderstandings  the  surest  remedy 
must  be  the  greater  knowledge  of  each  other.  Countless  pre- 
scriptions exist  for  creating  this  greater  knowledge  of  bringing 
the  various  parfs  of  the  world  into  closer  relationship.  But 
whatever  they  may  be  and  whatever  form  they  may  take,  early 
and  cheap  communication  lies  behind  them  all. 

Innumerable  cases  can  be  quoted  where  the  beginning  of  in- 
ternational misunderstandings  can  be  traced  to  the  absence  of 
really  full  and  accurate  accounts  of  events,  not  due  to  any  in- 
ternational misrepresentation,  but  entirely  due  to  a  very  laudable 
desire  to  curtail  cabling  expenses. 

In  dealing  with  events  of  international  importance  the  danger 
of  the  use  of  abbreviated  cablegrams  is  obvious.  For  business 
telegrams  codes  may  be  valuable  but  for  the  use  of  journalism 
they  are  valueless.  When  the  question  at  issue  involves  the  ex- 
planation of  new  facts,  the  publication  of  explanatory  statements 
and  the  development  of  new  policies  verbal  accuracy  is  absolutely 
essential. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  letters  from  correspondents  re- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  213 

ceived  by  mail  do  not  have  the  same  value  as  cabled  news.  The 
people  of  the  present  day  want  their  news  fresh  and  are  deter- 
mined to  have  it  fresh.  They  are  disinclined  to  give  more  than 
a  cursory  glance  to  matter  which  they  can  see  is  three  or  four 
weeks  old  and  pay  more  attention  to  the  short  cabled  message 
which  has  gone  before  than  to  the  detailed  explanatory  statement 
which  supplements  it. 

Setting  aside  altruistic  motives,  the  direct  interest  to  journal- 
ists in  the  reduction  of  cost  of  transmission  of  news  is  obvious. 
I  do  not  stress  this  very  much,  but  I  mention  it  because  I  have 
heard  malevolent  criticism  on  this  very  question  of  cabled  news, 
that  you  will  only  get  journalists  to  combine  when  they  see  the 
expectation  of  material  gain.  I  do  not  think  that  this  is  a  true 
or  a  just  criticism.  When  international  matters  of  the  first  im- 
portance are  under  discussion,  it  is  truly  remarkable  how  the 
press  of  all  countries  deal  with  them  in  the  most  ample  telegrams. 
The  difficult  questions  of  space  go  by  the  board  and  expense  is  the 
last  consideration.  They  have  a  duty  to  their  readers  which  they 
are  the  first  to  recognize.  To  take  only  one  instance,  Australia 
with  a  population  of  5,000,000  has  been  spending  100,000  pounds 
a  year  in  keeping  her  people  informed  of  what  is  happening  all 
over  the  world. 

It  is  not  in  this  way  that  cheapened  communications  can  serve 
to  improve  international  relations.  It  is  when  there  is  no  event 
of  the  first  importance  that  the  good  results  would  be  seen  in  the 
constant  flow  of  live  news  which  would  create  between  the  coun- 
tries real  understanding  and  sympathy,  news  which  owing  to  ex- 
pense of  cabling  the  different  publics  do  not  get  now,  not  only 
political  information  but  fuller  accounts  of  international  sport, 
more  human  interest  stories,  little  things  as  well  as  big,  so  that 
the  nations  may  be  able  to  understand  each  other's  private  lives, 
and  our  intercourse  should  be  easy,  intimate  and  free. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that  the  volume  of  news  between 
countries  is  primarily  regulated  by  the  cost  of  transmission.  That 
in  all  countries  the  volume  of  news  from  other  countries  is  in- 
sufficient is  only  too  true.  Nothing  strikes  a  visitor  to  a  strange 
country  more  than  the  paucity  of  information  which  is  being  pub- 
lished about  his  own  country.  Some  travelers,  of  course,  sufTer 
from  a  slight  deficiency  in  their  sense  of  relative  values.     I  do 


214       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

not  think  that  I  expect  to  see  too  much  British  news  in  the  Amer- 
ican papers  or  vice  versa,  but  in  reading  your  papers  I  do  feel 
that  your  editors  would  sometimes  be  glad  of  more  news  from 
Europe.  And  in  our  country  I  know  that  we  should  be  glad  of 
more  news  from  the  States.  It  is  my  practice  at  home  to  read  all 
the  quotations  from  the  Daily  Telegraph  in  the  provincial  and 
local  press  of  Great  Britain,  and  no  one  of  our  correspondents  is 
more  quoted  than  Mr.  Percy  Bullen,  for  many  years  our  cor- 
respondent in  New  York.  We  have  a  thinking  public  who  want 
to  know  what  you  are  doing  and  thinking. 

In  this  matter  of  the  collection  of  world's  news,  the  American 
press  with  its  hundred  million  of  readers  is  better  placed  than 
the  press  of  other  countries  in  being  able  to  pay  for  its  news.  Its 
internal  consumption  is  so  great  that  it  can  afford  to  pay  for  its 
collection  of  news  on  a  vast  scale.  This  is  a  question  which 
afifects  not  only  the  newspapers  directly  but  also  the  agencies. 
The  American  press  is  not  entirely  dependent  on  the  great  and 
efificient  agencies  for  its  news.  The  leading  American  papers  have 
their  representatives  in  the  capitals  of  Europe — I  speak  from  my 
knowledge  of  London — men  of  the  very  highest  ability,  to  inform 
their  readers  of  the  events  of  Europe  and  to  advise  them  on  its 
politics. 

And  I  am  sure  I  am  right  in  assuming  that  their  newsmen  are 
no  less  desirous  than  those  of  other  countries  that  cheapest  fa- 
cilities should  be  given  for  the  transmission  of  information.  On 
this  point  I  may  venture  to  quote  Dr.  Pierson,  chairman  of  the 
American  publishers  committee  on  cable  and  radio  communica- 
tions. In  forwarding  a  memorandum  to  Lord  Riddell  of  our  Em- 
pire Press  Union,  he  says :  "The  few  sentences  herewith  men- 
tioned or  quoted  from  conventions  are  the  only  laws  governing 
or  protecting  newspapers  in  their  daily  work  of  diffusing  among 
their  million  readers  news  of  the  peoples  of  other  lands.  The 
fewness  of  these  regulations  and  the  multiplicity  of  interpreta- 
tions given  to  them  are  due  to  the  inertia  of  the  newspapers  of 
the  world  in  the  past  and  invite  us  all  to  a  struggle  for  their  im- 
provement now  and  when  a  new  convention  is  being  formulated." 
He  goes  on  to  say,  "In  the  present  conditions  of  the  world  the 
reason  for  encouraging  press  services  are  numerous  and  domi- 
nant." 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  215 

Because  we  of  the  press  have  been  inert  in  the  past  is  no  rea- 
son why  we  should  be  in  the  future,  and  no  representative  meet- 
ing of  those  who  have  at  heart  the  interests  not  only  of  the 
world's  press  but  of  the  world's  peace  should  pass  without  an 
affirmation  of  our  solidarity  in  this  matter.  When  we  come  to 
the  question  of  remedies,  we  are  on  more  difficult  and  perhaps  con- 
troversial ground. 

I  will  make  no  attempt  to  apportion  the  blame,  if  blame  there 
be,  of  high  costs  amongst  nations,  corporations,  or  individuals. 
Nor  will  I  endeavor  to  define  the  remedy  of  the  existing  situation. 
To  essay  the  first  would  be  of  little  practical  value,  to  succeed  in 
the  second  would  require  greater  knowledge  than  I  possess.  Even 
to  prescribe  for  our  present  conditions  requires  a  depth  of  tech- 
nical skill  and  the  widest  sources  of  information.  To  secure  any 
improvement,  it  needs  the  co-operation  of  all  governments,  it 
needs  the  co-operation  of  existing  cable  companies. 

The  cost  of  operation  of  the  cable  systems  is  high  and  in  all 
probability  will  remain  high.  The  cost  of  maintenance  is  on  a 
par  with  the  cost  of  operation.  Although  the  congestion  on  some 
cable  wires  has  been  very  great,  cables  are  not  everywhere  run 
to  their  maximum  capacity.  This  is  the  direct  result  of  high 
rates.  I  believe  that  traffic  on  the  Pacific  cable  between  Van- 
couver and  Australia  and  New  Zealand  which  amounted  to  some 
10  million  words  per  annum  during  the  war  had  gone  in  the 
present  year  to  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand  words  a  week, 
and  that  the  wire  was  clear  for  an  average  of  forty-eight  hours  a 
week.  There  was  margin  here  for  the  introduction  of  deferred 
press  rates  without  delay. 

The  cost  of  laying  fresh  cables  is  prohibitive,  and  our  great 
hope  of  improvement  of  communications  would  appear  to  be  in 
the  increased  use  of  wireless  telegraphy.  Wireless  telegraphy 
is  still  in  a  transitional  stage  and  has  not  yet  attained  its  full 
efficiency.  Where  cables  are  not  used  to  their  full  capacity  there 
may  be  some  hope  of  improvement  in  the  establishment  or  re- 
establishment  of  deferred  press  rates.  But  this  condition  is  not 
general  and  we  must  look  elsewhere  for  the  remedies  which  we 
require.  Nothing  seems  to  offer  the  same  prospect  as  the  de- 
velopment of  wireless  telegraph. 

Improved   methods   of   wireless   transmission    are   being   dis- 


216      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

covered  every  day  and  will  result  in  wider  ranges  and  the  possi- 
bility of  acting  under  adverse  electrical  conditions.  We  are  in- 
formed that  messages  sent  at  high  commercial  speed  are  prac- 
tically impossible  to  intercept,  which  is  assuring  news  for  those 
who,  in  spite  of  our  fraternal  feeling  for  each  other,  sometimes 
welcome  some  slight  chronological  advantage  in  the  receipt  of 
news. 

There  are,  I  believe,  five  transatlantic  wireless  routes  in  opera- 
tion, though  three  of  these  are  intermittent.  There  are  seventeen 
cables.  Wireless,  however  well  it  may  develop,  will  never  in  all 
probability  entirely  replace  cables.  It  will  be  a  supplementary 
service,  not  an  alternative  one.  But  if  wireless  is  developed  it 
will  act  as  a  competitor  to  the  cable  companies  and  compel  them 
to  maintain  a  higher  state  of  efficiency  at  the  lowest  cost  to  the 
public.  But  herein  appears  a  great  danger.  There  are  vast  in- 
terests who  desire  that  wireless  rates  shall  not  be  on  the  low 
scale  that  the  inexpensive  nature  of  the  system  justifies.  There  is 
grave  reason  to  fear  that  wireless  users  will  lose  their  advantage 
in  order  that  the  dividends  of  the  cable  companies  may  be  kept  up. 
At  the  present  moment  the  wireless  rate  from  New  York  to 
London,  which  began  at  2^d  per  word,  has  increased  to  3^d. 
This  has  the  efifect  of  bringing  them  up  to  the  rates  charged  by 
the  Western  Union.  If  this  state  of  affairs  is  to  be  the  fate  of 
wireless  everywhere,  we  shall  have  no  hope  of  cheapened  com- 
munications. Nobody  can  state  what  should  be  the  future  rate 
for  wireless.  No  one  cay  say  to  what  extent  cable  rates  can  be 
reduced.  Reductions  must  be  of  gradual  growth  and  the  result 
of  experiment. 

In  discussing  this  question  of  the  development  of  wireless 
there  is  an  important  point  for  consideration.  There  exists  a 
divergence  of  opinion  as  to  whether  this  service  can  best  be  de- 
veloped by  the  private  enterprise  of  the  radio  companies  or  by 
government  service.  I  am  not  going  to  express  a  definite  opinion 
on  that  point.  With  a  very  marked  preference  for  individual 
enterprise,  I  should  be  prepared  to  waive  my  objections  in  favor 
of  the  service  which  would  give  the  best  transmission  at  the  low- 
est cost. 

But  if  government  services  are  to  be  developed,  it  is  all-im- 
portant that  in  no  matter  what  country  they  may  be  their  use 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  217 

should  be  free  and  unrestricted.  A  service  should  be  self-support- 
ing, but  even  if  it  be  state-aided,  it  must  not  be  state-controlled. 
There  are  a  number  of  countries  which,  owing  to  the  undeveloped 
nature  of  their  press,  cannot  pay  for  their  news  in  the  quantity 
in  which,  in  the  interests  of  world  peace,  they  ought  to  have  it. 
But  if  the  rates  cannot  be  brought  down  to  a  level  on  which  they 
can  afford  a  free  and  unrestricted  service,  it  is  better  that  they 
should  be  left  with  an  inadequate  news  service. 

It  is  full  time  that  very  unpleasant  word  propaganda  should 
be  decently  interred.  No  one  will  wear  mourning  for  it.  My 
friend,  Mr.  McClatchy,  with  the  illumination  of  expert  knowledge, 
can  amplify  this  by  concrete  example.  So  I  will  not  dwell  on 
this  point  any  longer. 

I  may  seem  to  have  made  a  statement  which  does  not  carry 
us  any  farther  on  the  road  to  improvement.  In  a  matter  which 
demands  the  co-operation  of  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  it  is 
difficult  to  be  precise. 

But  to  all  who  have  the  interest  of  world  communications  at 
heart,  the  present  conditions  are  highly  unsatisfactory,  and  I 
feel  that  it  would  not  be  right  for  a  representative  Congress  of 
the  World's  press  to  depart  without  having  registered  their  col- 
lective opinions  of  the  importance  of  this  question  and  pledged 
themselves  in  their  respective  countries  to  strive  for  improvement. 

No  improvement  can  be  eflPected  without  eflfort.  Were  it  pos- 
sible for  me  to  outline  a  definite  program  of  reform  I  would 
do  so.  I  can  only  suggest  that  on  our  return  we  do  two  things ; 
First,  that  we  endeavor  to  educate  the  public  to  realize  and  appre- 
ciate the  importance  of  this  question  of  cheap  and  rapid  com- 
munications ;  second,  that  whenever  any  question  of  communica- 
tions is  under  discussion  we  do  our  utmost  to  insure  improvement, 
not  only  by  personal  effort,  but  by  the  support,  given  without 
consideration  of  space,  of  all  the  weight  and  influence  of  the 
various  publications  with  which  we  are  associated.  We  know 
that  most  of  the  evils  in  the  world's  history  have  come  from 
ignorance,  and  that  the  surest  bond  of  sympathy  among  nations 
is  the  complete,  free  and  untrammeled  knowledge  of  one  another's 
daily  life  and  difficulties. 

Disarmament  in  itself  is  nothing.  What  have  you  accom- 
plished by  limiting  the  means  of  fighting  if  you  leave  the  desire 


218       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

to  fight?  In  such  a  reference  it  is  commonplace  to  quote  that 
you  cannot  hate  the  man  you  know.  But,  Hke  so  many  common- 
places, it  is  a  great  truth,  and  the  desire  to  know  each  other  bet- 
ter is  there.  Every  nation  of  the  earth  wants  to  know  other 
people's  opinions.  They  want  to  understand  their  hopes,  the 
causes  of  their  fears  and  the  objects  of  their  ideals,  their  joys 
and  their  sorrows.  It  is  only  the  absence  of  a  sufficient  quantity 
of  free  and  cheap  news  which  enables  the  baser  elements  which 
may  exist  in  every  nation  and  which  may  prefer  to  foster  preju- 
dices rather  than  to  promote  good  understanding — though  they 
know  the  danger  that  it  may  lead  to  wars — which  enables  these 
elements  to  maintain  the  influence  which  they  exercise  on  opinion. 

We  journalists  are  not  accused  of  being,  as  a  class,  prone  to 
self -depreciation,  but  I  honestly  believe  that  we  ourselves  have 
no  conception  of  our  power  to  secure  the  peace  of  the  world. 
The  vast  majority  of  the  inhabitants  of  every  country  never  travel 
beyond  their  country's  borders  and  have  neither  the  time  nor 
the  inclination  to  read  books  of  travel  or  to  study  the  politics  of 
other  nations. 

To  them  the  press,  and  more  particularly  the  daily  press  is 
the  interpreter  of  the  sentiment  of  other  nations  and  the  source  on 
which  they  rely  for  their  information  as  to  the  life  of  the  world 
outside.  That  information  the  press  endeavors  to  give  as  fully 
as  possible.  But  the  press  has  got  to  make  its  living.  We  don't 
want  paid  propaganda  from  any  one ;  we  want  news,  a  regular 
flow  of  live  news,  got  whence  we  want,  free  and  cheap,  free  alike 
from  restriction  and  from  bias,  and  cheap  so  that  partial  under- 
standing may  not  work  as  great  mischief  as  international  preju- 
dice. 

This  is  a  case  which  deserves  a  worthier  advocate,  but  is, 
I  think,  a  cause  of  supreme  importance  for  the  benefit  of  civiliza- 
tion, and,  therefore,  with  no  further  commendation  I  beg  to  move 
this  resolution : 

Resolved,  that  this  Congress  declares  that,  in  the  interests  of 
world  amity  and  of  better  international  understanding  and  sym- 
pathy, telegraphic  facilities  for  the  general  interchange  of  news 
and  press  comment  should  be  greatly  cheapened,  improved  and 
extended;  and 

That  the  representatives  of  the  world's  press  here  assembled 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  219 

in  conference  undertake,  in  their  respective  countries,  to  press 
by  all  legitimate  means  for  the  establishment  of  lower  rates  for 
press  messages,  whether  by  land  telegraph,  submarine  cable,  or 
wireless  telegraphy,  and  for  the  improvement  and  extension  of 
such  means  of  communication.     (Loud  applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  Colonel  Lawson  has  pitched  the  discus- 
sion on  a  high  plane  with  his  instructive  and  inspiring  address.  No 
more  significant  topic  is  to  be  considered  by  the  Press  Congress 
than  the  one  which  has  been  presented  by  him. 

I  call  next  on  Mr.  V.  S.  McClatchy,  editor  of  the  Sacramento 
Bee,  United  States,  who  will  speak  to  you  on  the  same  subject. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  The  most  important  subject  which  can 
be  offered  for  consideration  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World 
at  this  time,  is  reliable  international  news  communication.  Only 
through  such  communication  can  we  dissipate  ignorance,  and 
prevent  the  misunderstandings  which  create  suspicion  and  dis- 
trust, and  serve  as  forerunners  and  cause  of  war. 

This  subject  is  of  more  immediate  importance  than  disarma- 
ment even,  since  no  nation  is  justified  in  laying  aside  the  weapons 
of  defense  upon  which  the  nation's  life  may  depend,  until  assured 
by  knowledge  of  sentiment  and  conditions  in  other  countries  that 
weapons  are  no  longer  needed. 

The  Pan-Pacific  Union  has  shown  its  appreciation  of  the  im- 
portance of  this  matter  by  confining  its  tentative  agenda  for  the 
present  Congress  to  the  subject  of  "Communication"  in  its  various 
phases.  The  papers  prepared,  and  thus  far  printed,  however, 
treat  the  subject  as  a  problem  unsolved,  and  offer  suggestions 
for  solutions. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  solution  of  the  problem  of  trans- 
Pacific  news  communication,  was  presented  by  me  more  than  two 
years  ago,  and  was  adopted  by  Congress  more  than  a  year  ago ; 
and  the  plan  has  been  in  successful  operation  since.  Today,  the 
people  of  China,  and  Japan,  and  the  Philippines  and  Hawaii,  and 
the  United  States,  are  finding  their  vision  broadened  and  their 
misunderstanding  disappearing,  through  the  influence  of  an  ex- 
tended, uncensored  daily  news  report. 

The  work  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  and  of  the 
Pan-Pacific  Union,  so  far  as  this  question  is  concerned,  may  now 


220       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

be  confined  to  insuring  continuance  of  the  facilities  already  es- 
tablished, and  to  inducing  co-operation  of  other  countries  on  the 
Pacific,  so  as  to  extend  and  broaden  those  facilities  and  secure  the 
greatest  possible  general  benefit  therefrom. 

The  most  effective  plan  for  expediting  freight  transportation 
for  long  distances,  is  to  provide  a  canal  on  which  any  one  may 
operate  carrier  boats  for  a  nominal  fee.  The  most  effective 
plan  for  securing  reliable  international  news  communication,  is 
to  provide  facilities  for  accurate  and  rapid  transmission  of  news 
reports,  at  a  nominal  word  rate,  and  throw  those  facilities  open 
for  use  by  reputable  news  associations  and  individual  newspapers, 
the  news  reports  to  be  independent,  free  from  government  con- 
trol or  censorship,  unassisted  by  subsidy,  and  to  be  self-support- 
ing. 

Those  are  precisely  the  conditions  which  now  exist  for  trans- 
Pacific  news  communication  in  certain  districts,  and  which  may 
be,  and  should  be  extended,  to  all  countries  bordering  on  this 
ocean.  With  the  example  of  a  system  of  the  kind  successfully 
operating  on  the  Pacific,  it  will  be  a  question  of  time  only  when 
the  balance  of  the  world  will  insist  on  enjoying  similar  advan- 
tages. 

A  brief  statement  of  communication  conditions  on  the  Pacific, 
with  the  detail  of  the  plan  and  its  operation,  will  be  found  in  an 
article  written  by  me  for  Editor  and  Publisher  of  New  York, 
the  issue  of  March  12,  1921.  The  investigation  made  by  Con- 
gress in  the  matter  is  covered  in  transcript  of  hearings  held  in 
September  and  October  1919  before  the  radio  sub-committees  of 
the  Senate  Naval  Affairs  Committee,  and  the  House  Committee 
on  Merchant  Marine  and  Fisheries. 

For  present  purposes,  it  will  suffice  to  say,  that  Congress 
passed  in  June  1920  a  resolution,  authorizing  the  Navy  Depart- 
ment to  use  its  radio  facilities  for  two  years  for  news  communica- 
tion under  certain  conditions ;  that  the  Navy  Department  made  a 
rate  per  word  for  news  transmission  across  the  Pacific, — San 
Francisco  to  Cavite  (near  Manila)  of  six  cents  per  word,  the  low- 
est rate  for  long  distance  transmission  of  independent  news  re- 
ports in  the  world ;  that  the  Navy  radio  in  this  matter,  acts  prac- 
tically as  a  common  carrier,  and  that  news  reports  thus  trans- 
mitted, are  not  subject  to  government  control  or  censorship. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  221 

This  authorization  was  granted  in  the  face  of  pronounced 
opposition  from  radio  corporations,  and  notwithstanding  a  well- 
defined  objection  in  Congress  to  extending  Navy  jurisdiction 
over  public  utilities.  This  opposition  lost  its  force  in  face  of  the 
undisputed  statement  of  facts  and  the  very  grave  national  and 
international  interests  now  dependent  on  news  communication 
across  the  Pacific.  It  was  conceded  that  congested  lines  and 
prohibitive  rates  made  impracticable  the  use  of  private  cable  and 
radio  lines  for  the  purpose,  and  that  the  plan  proposed  was  the 
only  feasible  one  that  promised  success.  The  resolution  was 
passed  partly  because  of  my  assurance  that  with  proper  facilities, 
and  a  six  cent  rate,  news  associations  and  individual  newspapers 
would  themselves  insure  the  sending  of  independent  and  reliable 
news  reports.  The  authorization  was  granted  for  two  years  only, 
on  the  theory  that  if  the  plan  did  not  work  successfully,  such 
power  should  not  continue,  while  if  the  method  of  communica- 
tion proved  successful,  Congress  would  undoubtedly  extend  the 
authorization. 

News  reports  have  been  transmitted  across  the  Pacific  under 
that  plan  since  January  1920.  At  first,  there  were  many  diffi- 
culties, and  short-comings,  but  they  have  been  gradually  over- 
come. Installation  of  high  power  machines  and  improved  send- 
ing and  receiving  apparatus,  have  trebled  the  speed,  and  now 
enable  San  Francisco  to  receive  direct  from  Cavite  without  de- 
lay. Three  independent  daily  reports  now  go  westward  from 
San  Francisco — that  of  the  Associated  Press,  1100  words — the 
United  Press,  about  500  words,  and  a  special  report  for  the 
Japan  Advertiser  of  Tokyo ;  while  special  correspondents  of 
some  American  newspapers  use  the  new  radio  to  a  limited  extent 
for  sending  news  from  the  Far  East.  The  Associated  Press  re- 
port is  used  at  Honolulu,  by  English  and  Japanese  newspapers,  and 
at  Manila  by  English  and  vernacular  newspapers.  At  Guam,  it 
is  carried  across  the  island  by  motor  car  and  relayed  by  cable  to 
Tokyo,  whence  it  is  distributed  through  Japan  by  Kokusai,  the 
Japanese  news  agency.  At  Cavite  the  Associated  Press  report 
is  broadcasted  by  Navy  wireless,  and  picked  up  in  Shanghai  and 
Peking,  and  used  by  the  English  and  vernacular  newspapers  of 
China.  It  is  similarly  available  in  Vladivostok  and  elsewhere  if 
there  be  receiving  stations  or  ships  to  record  it. 


222      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  Navy  Department  recently  announced  that  it  is  prepared 
to  carry  for  the  news  associations  daily  East  bound  reports,  cover- 
ing news  of  the  Far  East  if  delivered  to  it  at  Manila  for  trans- 
mission to  San  Francisco.  Regular  reports  of  this  character 
have  not  yet  been  inaugurated,  but  doubtless  will  be  commenced 
when  arrangements  for  gathering  news  from  the  continent  of 
Asia  can  be  completed. 

The  French  Government  has  already  entered  into  an  arrange- 
ment under  which  it  will  use  its  large  wireless  station  at  Shanghai, 
co-operating  with  our  Navy  Department,  in  maintaining  wire- 
less communication  between  the  two  continents.  The  Navy  De- 
partment is  endeavoring  to  secure  under  this  arrangement,  a  spec- 
ial news  rate.  The  American  Federal  Wireless  Company  is  now 
constructing  for  China,  a  number  of  high  power  stations,  which 
when  completed,  can  be  used  in  conjunction  with  our  Navy  sys- 
tem for  international  news  communication;  and  Japan  has  al- 
ready officially  indicated  her  willingness  to  co-operate  in  ex- 
change of  news  reports  by  wireless  with  the  United  States. 

This  brief  statement  of  the  facts  gives  an  indication  of  the 
development  already  made  in  the  use  of  wireless  for  news  com- 
munication on  the  Pacific  and  the  manner  in  which  the  system 
can  be  extended.  It  is  only  necessary  for  Australia,  New  Zea- 
land and  other  countries  to  adopt  the  policy  inaugurated  by  the 
United  States,  and  now  working  successfully,  to  establish,  as  it 
were,  wireless  canals  for  the  carriage  of  independent  news  report 
boats,  and  make  a  connection  with  the  canals  already  established, 
and  there  can  be  then  perfect  interchange  across  the  Pacific, 
among  all  its  peoples,  of  uncensored  and  reliable  news  reports. 

The  foundation  of  this  ideal  system  rests,  it  will  be  seen,  upon 
maintenance  of  open  ways  for  uncensored  news  reports  at  a  low 
word  rate,  and  accessibility  thereto  for  all  responsible  news  as- 
sociations, or  newspapers. 

That  foundation  is  threatened  at  this  time,  in  the  fact  that 
Congress  has  thus  far  failed  to  renew  the  authorization  for  use 
of  Navy  radio  facilities  for  news  purposes,  expiring  in  July  1922, 
and  interested  parties  are  apparently  seeking  to  prevent  Congres- 
sional action  in  the  matter. 

Should  no  action  be  taken  by  Congress,  the  present  reports 
must  cease  in  eight  months,  and  we  will  revert  at  once  to  prior 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  223 

conditions,  which  made  it  impractical  for  any  adequate  news 
exchange  between  Asia  and  America.  Wireless  and  cable  com- 
panies regard  news  as  objectionable  business,  requiring  a  low 
rate,  and  interfering  with  profitable  commercial  business ;  news 
rates  on  the  Pacific,  by  either  cable  or  wireless,  are  prohibitive, 
and  do  not  ensure  prompt  delivery,  three  times  the  commercial 
rate  being  asked  for  expedited  service ;  and  wireless  companies 
have  shown  a  disposition  to  duplicate  cable  rates,  instead  of  ofifer- 
ing  much  lower  rates. 

It  would  seem  the  proper  plan  therefore,  for  the  Press  Con- 
gress of  the  World,  and  the  Pan-Pacific  Union,  to  concentrate  all 
their  energies  now,  on  securing  the  maintenance  of  the  present 
system  of  communication  by  the  United  States,  and  the  adop- 
tion of  a  similar  policy  in  co-operation  by  all  other  countries  on 
the  Pacific.  We  do  not  undertake  construction  of  canal  boats, 
until  we  have  planned  and  ensured  construction  of  our  main 
canal,  and  encouraged  planning  of  subsidiary  feeding  canals. 
Time  and  energy  should  not  be  wasted,  therefore,  in  devising  the 
kind  of  trans-Pacific  news  reports  to  establish,  or  the  agencies 
that  shall  control  them,  when  the  system  of  common  carrier  to 
transmit  those  reports  has  not  been  permanently  established.  In- 
sure the  carrier  system,  with  facilities  open  to  all,  and  the  other 
problems  will  disappear  as  rapidly  as  they  did  in  the  matter  of 
supplying  reports  to  Honolulu,  Manila  and  Tokyo,  as  narrated 
herein.     (Applause.) 

I  submit,  for  adoption  the  following  resolution: 
(See  Page  361  for  this  resolution.) 

This  is  not  intended  to  take  the  place  of  the  resolution  of 
Colonel  Lawson,  but  rather  to  emphasize  it. 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  It  is  good  journalism  to  follow  the  ap- 
plication of  general  principles  with  concrete  examples  as  has 
been  done  so  well  by  Mr.  McClatchy.  The  resolution  read  by  this 
gentleman  will  be  referred  for  consideration  to  the  Committee 
on  Resolutions. 

Members  of  the  Congress  heard  this  morning  a  statement  re- 
garding the  American  Newspaper  Publishers'  Association,  and 
its  former  president,  Mr.  Bridgman.  We  have  another  former 
president  of  the  American  Newspaper  Publishers'  Association  as 


224      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

a  delegate  to  this  Congress,  and  it  gives  me  particular  pleasure  to 
place  him  in  my  position  so  that  you  may  have  a  new  voice  as  pre- 
siding officer  for  the  rest  of  the  afternoon.  He  comes  from  that 
part  of  the  United  States  where  flowers  grow  most  abundantly, 
flowers  of  speech  as  well  as  other  flowers. 

I  present  to  you,  to  preside  for  the  rest  of  the  afternoon  ses- 
sion, Mr.  Frank  P.  Glass. 

MR.  GLASS  :  It  is  very  kind  of  Dr.  Williams  to  put  me  in  this 
position  temporarily.  I  beg  your  indulgence  while  I  try  to  fill 
his  place. 

The  next  item  on  the  program  in  connection  with  the  subject 
of  news  service  is  to  be  an  address  by  Mr.  G.  Nieva,  of  the 
Philippine  Islands. 

MR.  NIEVA:  After  Colonel  Lawson's  illuminating  paper  on 
cheaper  communication,  as  supplemented  by  that  of  Mr.  Mc- 
Clatchy,  I  feel  myself  fortunate  to  have  prepared  mine  on  the 
line  of  after-efifect  of  universal  communication. 

On  no  occasion  of  my  life  have  I  felt  the  impressive  touch  of 
a  truly  high,  solemn  honor  as  today,  when,  in  compliance  with 
the  kind  request  of  our  President,  and  as  a  representative  of 
the  Press  of  my  country,  bearing  with  me  the  good  wishes  of  my 
government,  I  have  the  unusual  privilege  of  addressing  this  as- 
semblage of  distinguished  men  of  letters  representing  the  Fourth 
Estate  from  all  over  the  world.  For  the  last  six  years  it  has 
been  my  earnest  endeavor,  through  my  little  paper.  The  Philippine 
Review,  to  be  of  service  in  an  association  like  this,  for  my  own 
land,  the  Philippines,  and  the  land  of  all  men,  the  World, 
that  I  may  do  my  bit  in  the  huge  task  of  trying  to  bring  man- 
kind into  candid  friendship  and  mutual  understanding.  I  thought, 
however,  it  was  quite  presumptuous  for  me,  as  an  individual,  so 
to  seek  to  bring  such  an  ideal  to  reality.  For  nations — nations 
of  the  big  one's  group — have  failed  almost  flatly  to  achieve  it. 

In  tracing  out,  however,  the  cause  of  such  failure,  I  find  that 
it  may  be  assigned  to  the  fact  that  nations  have  not  yet  taken  the 
active,  intelligent  co-operation  of  the  press  of  the  world  fully  and 
unreservedly  into  their  confidence. 

Thus  in  national  or  international  affairs,  where  government 
men  and  men  of  the  Press  have  not  yet,  as  they  ought  to  long 
ago.  come  into  such  mutual  intimacy  and  such  cordial  openness  as 


WW 


:mimTd% 


DELEGATP^S  FROM  CHINA   (u]>\wy,  left  to  riglit) 

JABIN    HSU,    Shanghai:.     K.    P.    WANG,    Shanghai; 
HOLLINGTON  K.  TONG,  Peking;    HIN  WONG,  Canton; 
PEI-YU  CHIEN,  Tientsin. 
AT  THE  MILITARY  REVIEW   (lower). 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  225 

should  have  made  their  joint  service  to  mankind  one  of  tremen- 
dous efficiency,  the  representatives  of  the  Press  have  to  work 
hard  to  get  the  news,  to  chase  it  ahead  of  others,  then  to  boil 
it,  then  to  construe  it,  then  to  comment  on  it,  and  then  to  serve  it 
to  their  reading  public.  Misconstruction  has  thus  in  many  cases 
endangered  the  safety  of  the  interests  of  the  community. 

It  is  this  mutual  confidence,  it  is  this  cordial  openness,  gentle- 
men of  the  press,  that  we  all  must  try  to  see  as  the  distinguishing 
features  of  our  service  in  behalf  of  universal  good  hereafter.  It 
is  this  service  that  I  wish  to  enlist  in  the  achievement  of  humane 
purposes  in  the  Far  East. 

Fortunately,  nations  today  seem  to  be  working  under  the 
pressing  tendency  to  associate  themselves,  to  group  together  in 
alliance,  just  as  individuals  in  clubs  or  associations,  for  the  more 
expeditious  promotion  of  their  purpose. 

The  press,  which  has  always  been  the  promoter  of  great 
ideals,  strangely  enough,  is  almost  the  last  to  realize  the  impera- 
tive necessity  of  organizing  itself  into  a  world-wide  association 
for  the  systematization  of  its  efforts  into  one  combined  and  effi- 
cient service  to  mankind.  The  new  spirit,  however,  is  now  per- 
meating our  various  communities  and  impelling  them  into  such 
a  world-wide  association.     This  is,  indeed,  a  very  hopeful  sign. 

It  is  doubtless  for  this  great  purpose,  as  well  as  the  call  of  the 
new  spirit,  that  we  are  met  here  today.  I  have  been  going  over 
man's  creative  ideas  of  the  age,  to  see  which  of  them  are  best 
suited  to  man's  requirements  today.  While  some — to  mention 
those  for  war  purposes — are  for  quickening  the  reciprocal  an- 
nihilation of  contending  forces,  and  while  science  and  industry 
are  thus  placed  at  the  service  of  civilization  for  the  latter's  own 
lightning-like  destruction,  however,  it  is  gratifying  to  see  the  new 
spirit  leading  the  press  of  the  world  towards  an  every-day  much 
closer  association,  towards  one  great  periodical  Congress,  for  a 
heart  to  heart  intercourse  of  ideas  and  opinions  and  plans,  such  as 
our  living  experience  may  enlighten  us  to  formulate  before  an 
organization  of  our  own,  for  our  own  information,  for  action  by 
ourselves. 

I  profess  the  profoundest  faith  in  the  immense  possibilities  of 

the  Press  as  a  world  power  for  good,  and  for  evil  as  well.     It 

must  still  be  easy  for  us  all  to  remember  the  influence  of  a  cer-. 
15 


226      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

tain  portion  of  the  Press  in  shaping  and  reshaping  policies  of 
national  and  international  purport  during  the  early  stages  of  the 
war  in  Europe,  even  at  that  time  when  secrecy  in  motives  of  action 
on  public  matters  didn't  seem  to  run  fully  in  accord  with  the 
character  of  the  latter,  and  when  press  representatives  were  not 
yet,  as  they  are  not  yet  today,  accorded,  as  I  have  said  above, 
that  openness  which  should  have  been  accorded  to  them  ab  initio 
and  which  would  make  the  joint  functioning  of  the  Press  and  the 
government  a  great  deal  more  efficient  indeed. 

The  press,  however,  loyal  and  patriotic,  rendered  its  service 
just  the  same,  to  the  very  best,  and  at  times  saved  whole  armies 
from  utter  annihilation,  at  its  own  expense,  and  in  all  without  the 
least  expectation  either  of  official  recognition  or  official  reward. 
The  idea  of  an  honest  and  loyal  service  to  the  public  has  always 
been  its  best  reward. 

This  shows  that,  if  properly  harnessed,  there  would  be  none 
on  earth  that  could  pride  itself  with  claiming  a  greater  meaning 
to,  and  with  being  a  greater  power  for,  humanity  than  the  press 
with  the  systematic  utilization  of  its  dynamic  forces — forces 
that  would  always  stand  for  conquest  without  invasion,  for 
victory  without  annihilation,  for  peace  without  reparations.  In 
Tulsa,  Oklahoma,  to  refer  to  a  recent  instance,  a  reporter's  pen 
proved  itself  a  powerful  contributing  factor  to  cause  as  it  caused 
that  beautiful  city  to  fall  asunder.  That  same  pen,  however, 
could  have  helped  to  save  that  graceful  city  from  utter  destruc- 
tion. In  this  sense,  the  press  can  be  a  war-preventer.  In  this 
same  sense,  it  can,  just  as  easily,  cause  utter  destruction.  It  is, 
therefore,  the  dynamism  of  our  as  yet  unorganized  forces  that 
we  must  patiently,  that  we  must  carefully  harness.  Fortunately 
enough,  it  is  not  yet  too  late  for  us  to  have  them  efficiently  or- 
ganized. 

Heretofore,  men  and  nations  have  been  laboring  for  the  future 
by  nationalities.  The  future  was  accordingly  mapped  out  by  na- 
tionalities also.  It  could  not  be  helped.  It  was  simply  impossible 
to  help.  The  civilization  of  the  West  was  that  way.  And  that 
civilization  was  our  heritage.  It  was  the  model  civilization  after 
which  nations  and  democracies,  schools  and  universities,  the  pul- 
pit even,  were  patterned.  Never  was  there  a  true  community  of 
interests,  physical  or  spiritual,  between  nations,  except  when  a 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  227 

blast  of  danger  threatened  to  blow  them  together.  There  had 
been  some  of  it  in  religious  doctrines,  socialistic  tendencies,  or 
labor  preachings,  and  this,  for  the  masses  below,  for  those  whose 
rights  are  more  or  less  rightly  believed  to  be  trampled  down,  but 
even  then,  with  relative  or  rather  doubtful  sincerity.  Selfishness, 
in  terms  of  nationalities,  in  terms  of  races,  made  actual  commu- 
nity spirit  simply  impossible  for  the  world,  and  made  it  impossible 
for  the  nations  jointly  to  labor  for  universal  good. 

During  the  war,  nations  allied  themselves  in  formidable 
groups  for  offensive  and  defensive  purposes,  for  greater  efficiency 
in  war.  After  the  war,  horrified  at  the  grimy  sight  of  death, 
of  destruction,  of  the  universal  bankruptcy  now  mercilessly  chok- 
ing up  the  world,  they  began  to  think  of  peace,  and  to  labor  for 
the  permanent  promotion  of  peace,  and  today,  with  some  grat- 
ifying consistency,  the  world  is  drifting  towards  peace.  Presi- 
dent Harding,  through  his  proposed  unrestricted  discussion  of 
public  questions,  which  must  really  be  made  public  for  all  men 
and  nations  on  earth  by  throwing  wide  open  the  doors  of  secret 
diplomacy,  if  heeded  and  fortunate,  may  at  last  start  the  discus- 
sion of  human  affairs  in  the  clear  open  at  all  times  and  find  the 
formula  for  man's  lasting  peace,  based  upon  mutual  understand- 
ing. For  this  effort,  and  to  help  make  public  questions  really 
public,  all  our  support  and  all  we  are  and  all  we  stand  for  should 
be  placed  unqualifiedly  available  for  him.  In  this  way  we  may 
render  a  decisive  service  to  help  cause  to  fade  whatever  difficulties 
may  block  the  path  of  or  blind  our  statesmen.  And  in  this,  our 
service  to  man  will  nicely  fit. 

Indeed,  it  is  a  happy  coincidence  that  in  Honolulu,  in  this 
group  of  tiny  Isles  which,  in  vivid  contrast,  are  the  birthplace  and 
home  of  the  gigantic  Pan-Pacific  Union  idea,  the  courtesy  of  a 
very  significant  meeting  place — the  Hall  of  a  Throne  that  was — 
has  been  so  splendidly,  so  accommodatingly,  so  munificently  ex- 
tended to  us,  both  by  the  government  and  the  local  business  and 
press  community  of  these  diminutive  Isles,  that  it  may  perhaps 
be  once  more  the  birthplace  of  a  new  spirit,  of  a  new  idea  for  the 
regeneration  of  humanity.  I  hope  you  will  heartily  join  me  in  ex- 
tending to  them  all  our  most  expressive  thanks. 

After  San  Francisco,  this  is,  indeed,  the  most  logical  meeting 
place,  for  we  all  can  see  that  from  here,  then  in  Japan,  China,  the 


228      The  Press  Co7igress  of  the  World 

Philippines,  Java,  India,  and  so  on,  hand  in  hand  on  this  side  of 
the  earth  that  is  still  free  from  the  frightful  bickerings  of  antago- 
nistic interests  and  antagonistic  attitudes  and  antagonistic  futures 
as  those  still  obtaining  on  the  other  side,  the  idea  of  a  United 
Press  of  the  World  and  the  idea  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union,  one 
helping  the  other  as  the  two  greatest  movements  of  the  age,  both 
may,  here,  give  a  sound  start  to  the  union  of  all  Pacific  countries 
and  then  of  all  countries  on  earth,  into  one  brotherly  search  after 
the  solemn  truth  of  their  common  future  and  the  common  future 
of  men. 

The  Pacific  is  making  colossal  strides  forward.  Its  dot-like, 
central  islands  seem  to  house  the  spark  to  set  the  world  again 
afire.  And  the  forebodings  of  war  and  of  war  causes  and  war 
forces  would  seem  to  accumulate  on  the  Pacific,  and,  if  unpre- 
vented,  I  am  afraid,  the  next  most  stupendous  of  all  wars  will 
be  here.  However,  if  we  are  really  determined  to  utilize  what 
God  has  so  purposely  placed  in  our  hands — that  pure,  piercing 
light  of  a  fearless  publicity — to  test  and  gauge  the  purity  and 
consistency  of  man's  purpose,  without  becoming  disloyal  to  our- 
selves, without  becoming  disloyal  to  our  respective  countries,  but 
just  assisting,  with  absolute  loyalty,  our  own  statesmen  and  our 
masses  and  the  world  itself  intelligently  to  understand,  in  every 
instance,  the  true  case  for  man,  I  hope  we  may  help  cause  such 
accumulation  of  war  purposes  and  sinister  means  for  war  to  fade 
away  like  night  darkness  before  the  unflinching  onrush  of  day- 
light. This,  on  the  one  hand.  On  the  other,  there  is  today  a  factor 
surging  for  this — the  advent  to  world  power  of  journalists  and  of 
great  dreamers  whose  writings  are  now  capturing  the  profound  at- 
tention of  humanity  leaders,  and  who  are  presenting  the  world 
with  the  unpolluted  gift  of  their  dreams — dreams  that  are  not  at 
all  wholly  unworkable,  dreams  that  are  not  at  all  entirely  un- 
feasible, dreams  that,  if  backed  up  by  the  earnest  response  of  re- 
organized humanity,  can  be  made  into  powerful  factors  to  reshape 
the  world,  to  remodel  world  interests,  to  revitalize  mankind 
through  the  revigorization  of  its  old  nerves  and  tissues  with 
new,  fresh,  dynamic  forces  for  peace.  Harding,  Wilson,  North- 
cliffe,  Hara,  Wells,  Tagore,  Gandhi,  and  others  are  great  hopes 
for  man. 

As  I  have  said,  the  Pacific  today  is  assuming  vast  proportions. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  229 

Europe,  both  Americas,  the  whole  Far  East  are  meeting  nowa- 
days in  the  Pacific.  The  richest  and  untouched  treasures  of  the 
world  are  here.  The  logical  market  of  the  world  is  here.  More 
than  one  billion  people  from  India,  Java,  the  Philippines,  China, 
Japan,  Oriental  Russia  and  other  countries  inhabit  the  left  hand 
side  of  the  Pacific,  if  we  look  northward,  with  the  little,  almost 
dot-like,  but  all-important  isles  of  Hawaii,  Yap,  Ladrone,  Guam, 
and  others  in  the  center,  while  peoples  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  and 
Latin  stocks  are  on  the  right,  all  perhaps  to  melt  in  the  Pacific, 
and  there,  once  melted,  to  form  a  real  association  of  races,  vital- 
ized with  one  common  hope,  with  one  common  ideal,  with  one 
joint,  whole-hearted  determination  to  achieve  what  Europe  has 
failed  to,  and  what  has  made  of  America  today  the  nearest  ap- 
proach to  this  dreamed  reality. 

It  is  here,  therefore,  where  we  may  put  to  actual  test  the  re- 
sistive power  and  inclination  of  races  against  that  great  crime  to 
humanity  or  incomprehensible  human  error  named  "race  preju- 
dice." It  is  here  where,  in  the  face  of  the  new  situation  surging 
all  over  the  Far  East,  we  can  put  to  actual  test  the  true  con- 
sistency of  high  principles  of  humanity,  both  as  proclaimed  in  the 
West  and  then  as  applied  in  the  East,  or  as  must  be  proclaimed 
in  and  applied  to  both  the  West  and  the  East  alike.  For  one  can 
see  today  universal  principles  are  still  conceived,  proclaimed  and 
observed  one  way  for  one  place,  and  another  for  another  place — 
one  way  for  the  West  and  another  way  for  the  East.  And  it  is 
here  where,  if  really  determined  therefore,  we  may  put  an  end 
to  such  prejudice  and  such  practice  or  else  be  ready  again  to  face 
the  undesirable  as  heretofore,  ignoring  all  that  for  which  man- 
kind has  so  nobly  fought  and  which  it  so  patiently  and  so  direly 
achieved.  This  is  the  crime  or  error  to  help  suppress  which,  we, 
members  of  the  World  Press,  must  boldly  stand  united  and  com- 
bined, as  it  has  been  fought  against  from  Christ  to  date. 

We  already  had  too  many  dreadful  wars,  even  during  the  last 
fifty  years  previous  to  1914,  when  war  was  proclaimed  by 
somebody  as  an  element  of  world  order,  when  universal  peace  was 
considered  a  mere  dream,  and  not  a  beautiful  dream  even;  when 
everything  drifted  towards  war,  through  schools  and  papers  and 
pulpit  as  its  more  or  less  veiled  channels.  This,  to  give  a  tangible 
preponderance  to  stronger  nationalities,  and  to  make  prosperity 


230       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  exclusive  privilege  of  the  latter,  at  the  expense  of  the  weaker. 
Already  we  have  seen  that  this  policy  has  caused  the  world  to  sink 
deeper  and  deeper,  and  then  deeper  still,  and  the  items  of  loss 
in  war  to  be  enormously  greater  than  the  item  of  loss  in  peace, 
and  the  item  of  profit  in  peace  to  be  inconceivably  greater  than 
the  item  of  profit  in  war,  besides  being  more  stable  and  better 
balanced  for  all.  The  time,  therefore,  seems  ripe  for  the  world 
to  think  of  peace  through  these  same  factors,  and  to  give  room 
for  a  fitting  community  spirit  for  all  nationalities  to  prevail 
through  the  work  of  peace  as  an  every-day  reality. 

Can't  we  really  do  it  ? 

Some  said  that  if  man  can  conceive  it,  man  can  do  it.  If  this 
is  really  true,  if  we  ourselves  can  conceive  it,  if  we  can  make  our- 
selves want  it  as  necessity,  then  my  answer  will  be  "Yes,  chiefly 
through  the  press." 

The  world  is  becoming  so  much  narrower  every  day,  and  men 
and  nations  are  getting  themselves  so  much  more  closely  depend- 
ent upon  each  other,  that  one  can  no  longer  live  without  the  other. 
Marriage,  intermarriage,  the  Bible,  education,  science,  industry, 
trade,  internationalism.  Service  as  the  supreme  ideal  of  man  to- 
day, fast  transport  and  communication  by  sea,  land  and  air,  and 
the  press,  all  tend  to  broaden  our  vision,  but  only  to  make  our 
world  much  narrower  each  time,  to  lay  everything  open  to  man's 
sight,  and  thus  make  it  the  world  of  real  men  as  God — the  God 
of  all  men — wants  men  to  be.  But  above  all  this,  the  press  serv- 
ice— as  superbly  typified  by  the  service  rendered  by  the  Asso- 
ciated Press,  through  which  we  are  enabled  to  know  every-day 
happenings  in  Russia,  Ireland,  Alaska,  Congo,  Argentine,  Tibet, 
Afghanistan,  India,  and  other  places,  from  our  respective  homes, 
no  matter  where,  in  cities  or  villages — is  the  one  service  that  truly 
links  the  world  together,  that  causes  waves  of  public  wrath  or 
public  sympathy  or  public  gratification  to  surge  the  world  over, 
making  men  feel  as  men  towards  each  other,  and  thus  gradually 
furnishing  an  eflfcctive  check  against  state  rulers,  through  the 
daily  formation  of  a  gradually  increasing,  powerful  public  opin- 
ion to  enlighten  the  world  on  universal  and  local  matters.  And 
I  feel  positive  that  if  w-e,  members  of  the  press,  can  only  inform 
the  masses  thoroughly,  as  thoroughly  as  we  should  inform  them, 
about  things  around  them  and  around  the  world,  so  that  we  may 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  231 

help  them  to  understand  those  things  properly,  and  properly  to 
understand  themselves  as  well,  then  we  shall  have  accumulated 
such  an  enormous  force  of  social  cohesion  for  all  mankind,  ir- 
respective of  race,  of  religion,  of  government,  as  to  make  the 
state  anywhere  on  earth  a  true  servant  of  the  people,  and  deliver 
the  masses  from  merely  being  food  for  guns  or  the  desequilibrium 
of  heads  of  states. 

It  is  for  this  that  I  feel  positive  that,  if  we  can  only  serve 
the  people  of  the  world  with  unveiled  information  about  national 
and  international  purposes  of  the  men  at  the  helm  of  the  ships  of 
states,  and  make  this  a  point  of  unevadable  duty  for  both  the  men 
of  the  press  and  the  heads  of  governments,  we  would  relieve  the 
world  from  so  much  of  human  worries  and  miseries  and  suffer- 
ings to  the  full  measure  of  everybody's  realization  of  his  duty,  and 
the  exercise  of  man's  right  towards  his  fellow  man.  This  way  we 
could  no  longer  be  indifferent  to  massacres  of  Armenians,  to 
Bolshevism  in  Russia,  to  famine  in  China,  and  when,  after  a 
night's  rest,  morning  comes  bringing  to  the  home  of  every  citi- 
zen of  the  world,  through  the  press,  the  unmutilated  news  of  the 
day,  to  place  him  in  contact  with  the  rest  of  mankind  and  in 
readiness  to  start  the  toil  of  the  day  with  a  fair  knowledge  of 
how  his  other  fellowmen  elsewhere  on  earth  are,  and  cheerfully 
do  his  share  in  man's  tasks  for  man,  then  we  can  say  that,  through 
the  honest,  efficient  service  of  our  association,  we  shall  have  ex- 
pedited the  creation  of  a  world  comradeship  spirit,  and  rendered 
mankind  that  service  that  will  make  it  feel  under  the  unescapable 
duty  of  upholding  humane  purposes  anywhere  on  earth. 

Then,  through  the  press,  we  shall  have  seen  the  achievement 
of  humane  purposes  in  the  Far  East. 

And  now,  in  the  face  of  the  new  forces  today  in  evolution  in 
the  Far  East,  whose  tendency  is  to  unite  together  and  to  a  man 
push  the  Far  and  Near  Easts  towards  the  place  allotted  to  them 
on  earth ;  in  the  face  of  present  tendencies  towards  a  provoked 
separation,  I,  for  one  at  least,  and  as  one  coming  from  the  Philip- 
pines, or  as  a  Far  Easterner,  dare  respectfully  raise  my  voice  to 
appeal  to  you,  fellow  members  of  the  press  in  this  Congress,  for 
me  the  one  Congress  possessing  the  greatest  power  on  earth  for 
the  maintenance  and  preservation  of  humane  purposes  with  neither 
violence  nor  reprisals,  to  invite  you  all  to  do  all  that  is  in  our 


232       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

hands,  through  our  respective  papers,  for  a  joint  action  in  the 
maintenance  and  promotion  of  man's  purposes  anywhere  we 
may  be.  Human  unity  the  world  over  must  not  fall  asunder. 
Humane  purposes  in  the  Far  East  must  not  fail.  And  universal 
comradeship  must  not  be  rendered  impossible  for  racial  reasons 
or  other  trifling  causes.  For  their  achievement  in  peace  is  per- 
fectly within  the  possibilities  of  the  press.  We  must  make  up 
our  mind  to  engineer  the  collossal  power  of  a  sane  public  opinion 
resulting  from  a  fearless,  thorough  information,  to  utilize  it  in 
engineering  the  gigantic  waves  of  these  new  forces  for  the  preser- 
vation and  promotion  of  civilization,  to  stop  murder,  to  stop  de- 
struction, once  and  for  all  to  bring  to  an  end  the  subjugation  of 
man  by  man,  that  the  West  and  the  East  may  at  last  get  together 
in  behalf  of  man,  that  there  may  be  universal  contentment  and 
welfare. 

Shall  we  fail  the  world? 

Shall  the  world  fail  us? 

Shall  we  fail  each  other? 

It  is  up  to  us  to  give  an  honest  answer. 

In  closing,  allow  me  to  thank  you  most  heartily  for  the  priv- 
ilege of  addressing  you  on  this  occasion.  My  government,  as  well 
as  the  press  and  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  my  country,  have 
authorized  me  to  extend  to  you  its  cordial  invitation  to  hold  our 
Congress's  next  meeting  in  the  Philippines  which,  with  the  co- 
operation of  the  United  States,  is  now  trying  its  best  so  that  the 
world  trade  may  have  a  modern  distributing  center  in  the  Far 
East,  and  which  you  will  find  as  close  to  both  Americas  as  to 
Europe.  But  you  will  find  it  closer  still  to  your  hearts  if  you 
will  consider  the  fact  that  the  Filipino  people  speak  the  language 
of  your  own  civilization,  that  the  Filipino  press  is  written  in  the 
same  language  as  your  own  press,  and  that  the  Christ  of  the 
Philippines  is  the  same  Christ  of  your  countries.  It  is  perhaps 
for  this  reason  that  the  Philippines  may  justly  claim  to  be  the 
country  of  the  Orient  that  may  best  labor  for  the  unification  of 
the  East  and  the  West. 

Our  people,  our  press,  our  public  institutions  would  all  cheer- 
fully be  at  the  service  of  humanity  in  this  gigantic  task. 

Indeed  it  would  be  a  signal  honor  for  my  people  and  for  the 
press  of  my  country  to  have  you  all  as  our  honored  guests. 

Once  more  I  thank  you.     (Applause.) 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  233 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Congress  has  enjoyed  very  greatly 
this  very  beautiful  and  strong  presentation  of  the  spirit  of 
the  Philippines  as  embodied  by  that  English-speaking  and  English- 
writing  people  and  press.  The  invitation  of  Mr.  Nieva  will  be 
referred,  as  the  other  invitations  have  been,  to  the  Executive 
Committee  for  future  consideration. 

The  next  speaker  on  this  program  is  Mr.  William  Southern, 
Jr.,  of  the  Independence  Examiner,  Independence,  Missouri,  U. 
S.  A. 

MR.  SOUTHERN:  Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Press 
Congress :  It  is  with  a  good  deal  of  embarrassment  and  some  re- 
luctance that  I  appear  on  the  program  following  the  distinguished 
speakers  who  have  discussed  so  forcibly  the  vital  questions  with 
which  our  Congress  is  to  deal,  and  then  attempt  to  turn  your 
minds  from  the  consideration  of  these  great  features  of  our 
Congress  to  the  consideration  of  one  portion  of  the  press  of  the 
United  States.  This  morning  you  listened  to  Mr.  Bridgman,  who 
discussed  the  features  of  the  metropolitan  press,  and  what  I  shall 
have  to  say  should  be,  I  think,  a  corroUary  following  that  through 
the  press  publications  in  the  smaller  cities  of  the  United  States. 
I  come,  Mr.  President,  from  a  small  press  on  which  the  local 
features  predominate.  It  is  our  theory  that  a  dog  fight  on  Main 
Street,  well  written  up,  is  of  more  interest  to  our  readers  than 
the  story  of  a  band  of  anarchists  chasing  a  Grand  Duke  through 
Moscow.  And  so  you  will  understand  that  to  drop  from  the  dis- 
cussions you  have  been  hearing  and  listen  to  a  discussion  from 
a  small  paper,  is  rather  embarrassing.  The  Chairman  assigned 
me  to  discuss  the  provincial  newspapers  of  the  United  States. 

Only  a  few  years  ago  in  England  all  newspapers  not  published 
in  the  city  of  London  were  called  provincial  papers.  It  is  prob- 
able that  if  a  definition  of  a  provincial  paper  were  sought  in  New 
York  the  answer  would  be  promptly  forthcoming  that  all  papers 
not  published  on  the  isle  of  Manhattan  are  provincial  papers.  If 
the  definition  should  be  asked  of  the  papers  published  in  the 
smaller  cities  the  term  provincial  would  be  passed  on  down 
the  line  to  include  only  the  weekly  press  of  the  country.  If  the 
weekly  papers  were  asked  for  an  opinion  they  would  promptly 
reply  that  the  most  provincial  papers  published  are  the  New 
York  papers  and  point  out  the  fact  in  proof  that  the  great  daily 


234       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

papers  in  New  York  City  have  not  yet  discovered  that  the  eigh- 
teenth amendment  is  a  part  of  the  constitution  of  the  United 
States. 

We  have  thus  a  complete  circle  of  definition  and  conclude  at 
once  it  was  a  wise  man  who  said  that  if  a  camel  could  define  God 
his  picture  would  show  God  with  four  legs  and  a  hump. 

The  definition  of  the  provincial  papers  of  the  United  States 
draws  no  distinct  line  of  demarkation  between  cities  or  states. 
Provincial  papers  may  be  found  among  the  largest  papers  of  the 
cities  of  the  world  and  papers  which  have  lifted  themselves  out 
of  the  provincial  class  may  be  found  in  the  smaller  communities. 

We  go  back  in  the  history  of  the  United  States  more  than 
three  hundred  years  to  find  the  first  provincial  paper,  the  first 
effort  to  establish  a  newspaper  in  this  country.  Boston  was  the 
birthplace  and  the  date  was  1689.  The  paper  was  called  Publick 
Occurences  Both  Foreign  and  Domestic.  It  was  a  four  page 
paper,  pages  about  the  size  of  the  standard  letter  head  in  use 
today,  one  page  blank.  There  were  two  columns  to  the  page. 
Only  one  issue  of  this  newspaper  was  published  and  as  far  as  is 
known  only  one  copy  is  now  in  existence  and  that  is  found  on  file 
in  the  state  offices  in  London.  The  paper  was  suppressed  by  the 
government. 

The  next  venture  in  journalism  in  the  United  States  was 
The  Boston  News  Letter  founded  and  published  by  John  Camp- 
bell, postmaster  of  Boston.  The  affinity  between  the  postoffice 
and  the  local  newspaper  has  often  been  remarked  and  here  we 
have  our  authority  for  the  custom  of  appointing  the  editor  to  the 
postoffice. 

In  announcing  an  enlargement  of  his  paper  John  Campbell 
said,  "This  time  twelve  months  we  were  thirteen  months  behind 
with  foreign  news  and  are  now  less  than  five  months,"  and  encour- 
aged his  subscribers  to  remain  faithful  "until  January  next,  life 
permitted,  they  will  be  accommodated  with  all  the  news  of  Eu- 
rope." 

The  News  Letter  was  the  only  paper  published  in  the  prov- 
inces for  fifteen  years  and  then  came  a  tragedy.  A  change  in  the 
administration  appointed  another  postmaster  and  the  new  post- 
master started  another  paper.  John  Campbell  was  greatly  peeved 
to  lose  his  job  as  postmaster  and  at  the  same  time  find  his  field 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  235 

as  editor  also  threatened  and  then  began  the  first  war  between  edi- 
tors, a  war  that  has  continued  even  unto  this  day. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  Revolution  in  1775  there  were 
seven  newspapers  in  Massachusetts,  one  in  New  Hampshire,  two 
in  Rhode  Island,  three  in  Connecticut,  eight  in  Pennsylvania, 
three  in  New  York,  two  each  in  Virginia,  Maryland  and  North 
Carolina,  three  in  South  Carolina  and  one  in  Georgia,  thirty-four 
in  all. 

The  development  of  the  newspaper  and  the  evolution  from  a 
small  three-page  paper  printed  once  a  month  on  a  screw  press, 
capable  of  producing  about  three  hundred  copies  printed  on  one 
side  in  an  hour,  divides  itself  into  three  periods,  up  to  the  Civil 
War,  the  last  quarter  of  the  Nineteenth  Century  and  to  the  pres- 
ent. From  the  beginning  of  the  newspapers  in  the  United  States 
to  the  Civil  War  in  1865  and  for  ten  years  thereafter  the  progress 
was  interminably  slow.  Processes  of  printing  were  such  that 
papers  were  small  in  size  and  small  in  circulation  and  the  cost 
of  the  white  paper  was  almost  prohibitive.  Men  of  today  will 
remember  when  a  majority  of  the  small  papers  were  printed  on 
the  Washington  hand  press  and  the  city  papers  were  printed  on  a 
drum  cylinder  press  to  which  steam  power  had  been  adjusted  and 
the  sheets  fed  separately  for  printing  on  one  side  at  a  rate  not  ex- 
ceeding one  thousand  an  hour.  The  demand  for  daily  papers 
could  not  be  met.  Stereotyping  the  forms  was  unknown.  Print- 
ing from  a  roll  was  still  in  the  future  to  be  suggested  from  the 
method  of  manufacturing  cotton  cloth  in  rolls.  All  type  was 
set  by  hand  and  the  tramp  printer  flourished.  Four  pages  was  the 
usual  size. 

Just  one  hundred  years  ago  there  were  published  in  New 
York  City  eight  daily  newspapers  with  an  aggregate  circulation 
of  ten  thousand,  eight  hundred  copies.  None  of  these  boasted 
of  more  than  two  thousand  copies  daily.  Irl  1835  no  paper  in 
the  country  circulated  more  than  five  thousand  copies  daily  and 
very  few  could  show  half  that  number. 

The  first  rapid  folding  machine  attached  to  a  press  was  shown 
at  the  centennial  at  Philadelphia  in  1876. 

A  writer  in  1894  after  describing  the  typesetting  machines  of 
that  day  told  of  the  Mergenthaler  and  the  Thome  and  ended  his 
article  with  these  words,  "Most  of  the  typesetting  of  the  world 
is  done  by  hand." 


236      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Great  circulations  of  individual  papers  were  impossible  until 
the  last  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century.  In  this  time  the 
presses  capable  of  printing  by  duplication  as  many  copies  as  neces- 
sary for  any  circulation  were  perfected,  the  type  setting  machines 
made  possible  the  composition  and  the  price  of  news  print  paper 
dropped  to  a  ridiculous  figure.  Before  and  during  the  Civil  War 
news  paper  cost  as  high  as  twenty-two  cents  a  pound.  In  1864 
it  sold  for  sixteen  cents  a  pound ;  in  1873  at  twelve  and  thirteen 
cents  a  pound,  declining  in  1875  to  eight  and  fifty-three 
hundredths  cents  a  pound,  in  1880  to  six  and  ninety-two 
hundredths  and  in  1890  to  three  and  thirty-eight  hundredths. 
In  1897  contracts  for  good  paper  delivered  in  large  quantities  in 
New  York  press  rooms  were  made  at  one  and  five-tenths  cents 
a  pound.  Telegraph  and  cable  sprang  into  general  newspaper  use 
and  the  service  became  reasonably  cheap  and  within  reach. 

Followed  a  riot  of  cheap  newspapers,  many  paged  newspapers, 
and  the  scramble  for  large  circulations,  no  matter  how  secured. 

From  1915  to  the  present  brought  another  great  change.  The 
war  taught  the  newspapers  of  this  nation  many  things  and  has 
brought  them  to  a  better  business  basis  and  to  a  better  and  larger 
service.  Every  newspaper  publisher  is  familiar  with  this  phase 
of  the  newspaper  development  and  the  lessons  which  it  taught.  To 
many  came  the  discovery  that  their  business  methods  were  bad. 
Advertising  was  developed  to  an  extent  unheard  of  and  unex- 
pected. It  was  found  that  advertising  had  a  distinct  news  value 
and  the  standards  maintained  in  the  editorial  rooms  were  adopted 
in  the  advertising  departments  among  the  best  papers. 

In  the  United  States  today,  according  to  the  American  News- 
paper Directory,  there  are  22,373  publications  sent  out  regularly 
from  10,894  towns,  of  this  number  2,374  are  published  daily  with 
a  circulation  of  thirty-two  million  copies.  The  evening  papers  out- 
number the  morning  papers  three  to  one. 

This  means  that  one  daily  paper  is  printed  every  day  for 
every  three  and  one-fifth  persons  in  the  United  States.  In  two 
states  there  is  a  daily  paper  for  every  one  and  one-tenth  person 
living  in  those  states.    Missouri  is  third  in  the  list. 

There  are  in  the  United  States  150  cities  of  more  than  50,000 
population  and  from  these  cities  are  published  399  daily  papers. 
There  are  1,475  cities  with  a  population  of  between  5,000  and 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  2hl 

50,000,  and,  including  the  comparatively  small  number  of  daily 
papers  published  in  cities  of  less  than  5,000  population,  there  are 
1,875  daily  papers  published  in  this  group  of  cities  and  they  cir- 
culate approximately  12,000,000  copies  daily. 

Writing  the  story  of  newspapers  of  the  United  States  in  the 
late  nineties  Whitelaw  Reid  said,  "The  period  since  the  war  has 
been  marked  by  the  rapid  development  of  local  journalism 
throughout  the  United  States.  Nearly  every  city  of  15,000  in- 
habitants must  have  its  daily  paper.  A  great  business  has  grown 
up  in  the  furnishing  from  some  central  city  of  ready  printed  sheets 
so  that  the  local  paper  may  have  the  news  and  literature  and 
only  need  print  at  home  one  or  two  pages.  Ready  plates  have 
also  been  a  factor  in  the  development  of  the  small  city  daily."  De- 
velopment of  the  small  city  daily  since  that  time  has  been  far 
greater  than  in  all  the  years  before.  The  small  city  daily  is  now 
printed  on  a  perfecting  press  and  buys  its  paper  by  the  carload. 
It  is  set  on  type  casting  machines  and  every  office  has  from  two 
to  five  of  these  machines.  It  carries  the  Associated  Press  franchise 
and  gives  the  news  of  the  world  on  the  same  day  that  news  is 
printed  in  the  large  cities. 

As  a  member  of  an  organization  which  includes  the  daily 
papers  of  this  class  from  seven  states  it  was  my  privilege  not  long 
ago  to  look  over  the  tabulated  and  classified  report  of  the  busi- 
ness and  work  of  one  hundred  of  these  small  city  papers.  In 
that  list  there  were  only  two  which  failed  to  show  a  profit  and 
the  average  profit  revealed  was  fifteen  per  cent  of  the  gross  re- 
ceipts for  the  year  for  which  the  report  was  made. 

This  group  of  small  daily  newspapers  is  a  most  powerful 
group  because  of  ownership,  method  of  management  and  per- 
sonal touch.  The  metropolitan  daily  is  often  a  bulletin  of  the 
press  news  of  the  world  and  of  the  daily  report  of  the  courts.  It 
treats  news  as  news,  impersonal  and  inexorable.  The  individual 
is  submerged.  This  makes  a  wonderful  news  medium  and  it  is 
bought  as  such.  We  often  deplore  the  fact  that  we  do  not  now 
have  a  Greeley  or  a  Dana  or  Watterson ;  picturesque,  able,  posi- 
tive and  strong  men.  These  figures  have  disappeared,  not  because 
there  are  no  great  and  strong  editors  among  the  metropolitan 
papers  today,  but  because  the  metropolitan  paper  has  become  a 
marvelous  and  complex  business  machine,  pervading  every  field 


238       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

of  endeavor,  a  great  manufacturing  plant,  reaching  to  the  tim- 
ber lands  of  the  north  for  pulp,  owning  paper  mills,  requiring 
millions  of  dollars  investment  and  employing  thousands  of  men 
and  women  every  day.  Machines  set  the  type  and  turn  the  presses 
and  adjust  the  rolls  and  write  the  editorials  and  edit  the  copy  and 
the  whole  is  a  vast  commercialized  business.  In  the  days  of 
Greeley,  in  the  days  of  Dana  and  Watterson  theirs  were  one  man 
papers,  provincial  papers,  if  you  please,  papers  with  a  soul  and 
a  purpose  other  than  to  carry  the  news  of  the  world,  like  a  phono- 
graph machine  set  on  jazz  records,  to  the  minds  of  thousands  of 
careless  hurrying  people  who  read  today  and  occupy  the  mind 
tomorrow  with  the  next  day's  news. 

In  the  smaller  cities  the  daily  paper  is  still  a  personal  paper. 
The  editor  is  known  to  everybody.  He  is  supposed  to  know 
everything  and  what  he  does  not  know  he  suspects  very  strongly. 
He  takes  part  in  all  of  the  activities  of  his  city,  readers  point 
to  an  article  and  name  the  man  who  wrote  it.  The  small  daily 
paper  has  the  soul,  the  personal  touch.  It  is  often  noticed  that 
in  great  campaigns  all  the  big  papers  united  fail  to  defeat  a  man 
for  office.    The  provincial  paper  more  often  is  successful. 

The  small  city  daily  often  owns  a  congressman,  makes  a 
governor,  defeats  a  senator.  It  is  found  like  Greeley's  Tribune, 
on  the  table  with  the  family  Bible,  nowadays  more  often  on  the 
table  from  which  the  Bible  may  have  been  banished  and  bridge 
whist  substituted. 

While  a  newspaper  in  a  large  city  may  find  a  sufficient  clientage 
to  make  a  financial  success  by  dealing  out  only  the  sensational 
and  the  high  spiced  evil  aroma  of  a  salacious  world,  the  news- 
paper in  a  smaller  city  can  never  make  such  a  success.  You  will 
not  find  the  rococo  style  of  newspaper  in  the  smaller  cities.  Nor 
yet  the  yellow  journal.  This  style  of  paper  can  only  thrive  in 
cities  large  enough  to  provide  a  clientage.  It  appeals  to  the  sen- 
sational and  to  the  morbid  and  to  the  lawless.  In  the  smaller 
city  the  percentage  of  such  is  so  small  that  there  is  no  room  for 
a  paper  which  is  all  gingerbread  and  froth.  Something  else  is 
demanded  and  the  newspaper  instinct  is  that  which  senses  the 
demand  of  its  clientage  and  fills  that  demand.  If  it  can  not  do 
this  it  can  not  survive.  The  only  way  to  success  is  to  establish  a 
character  which  is  recognized  and  which  brings  the  faith  and  the 
confidence  of  the  public. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  239 

Samuel  Johnson  once  said,  "It  is  a  reproach  not  to  have 
friends,  it  may  be  even  a  greater  reproach  not  to  have  enemies." 
Nowhere  is  this  truer  than  in  the  newspaper  business  of  a  small 
city.  The  newspaper  man  can  not  make  a  reputation  for  wisdom 
by  going  around  with  a  solemn  face  and  the  chastened  appearance 
of  an  undertaker  at  an  open  grave.  He  must  take  the  knocks  with 
a  smile,  sympathize  with  and  help  and  stand  always  for  the  best 
things  of  his  community  and  his  country.  His  friends  and  his 
enemies  are  a  part  of  the  game. 

After  a  good  many  years  in  the  newspaper  business  one  comes 
almost  to  believe  that  he  does  not  know  very  many  things  and 
is  not  quite  certain  about  them.  Yet,  established  in  the  afifections 
of  his  readers,  they  always  want  to  know  what  he  has  to  say 
about  everything.  The  League  of  Nations,  the  conduct  of  the 
wars,  the  acts  of  congress,  the  building  of  cabinets,  the  election 
of  candidates,  must  all  be  discussed  and  are  thus  passed  on  to 
those  who  think  about  such  things.  I  remember  very  well  when 
Colonel  Roosevelt  died.  It  was  several  days  afterward  and  I 
had  not  printed  an  editorial  about  Roosevelt.  I  had  printed  edi- 
torials from  other  papers  and  comments  upon  the  career  of  the 
great  man  who  touched  the  life  of  our  country  in  so  many  places 
and  who  was  the  typical  American  in  the  minds  of  very  many. 
One  day  I  met  an  old  friend  who  reproached  me.  "Oh  yes,"  he 
said,  "you  have  printed  what  others  have  said,  but  we  want  you 
to  say  something  yourself."  I  relate  this  incident  to  show  how 
close  we  come  to  the  lives  and  hearts  of  our  readers  and  how 
careful  we  should  be  never  to  betray  the  trust,  once  we  have  it. 

Newspapers  before  the  Revolution  were  not  given  to  the  ex- 
pression of  comment  and  opinion.  They  were  quite  likely  to  be 
suppressed  very  quickly  and  Ben  Franklin,  still  the  patron  saint 
of  the  printer,  was  among  the  few  who  had  the  independence  and 
courage  to  express  an  opinion.  His  brother,  James  Franklin,  be- 
fore him  was  put  out  of  the  newspaper  business  through  a  relig- 
ious discussion.  Newspapers  in  the  United  States  have  struggled 
from  the  first  for  the  right  of  free  speech  and  a  free  press  and 
have  secured  that  right  which  is  permitted  to  the  point  where  it 
becomes  license.  Franklin  believed  in  giving  the  people  what  they 
should  have  whether  they  wanted  it  or  not. 

The  highest  art  in  the  newspaper  business  is  to  give  the  read- 


240      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

ers  what  they  should  have  in  such  a  way  that  they  will  think  it  is 
exactly  what  they  want. 

Experience  and  the  survival  of  the  fittest  has  taught  lessons 
from  which  the  small  city  paper  draws  success.  About  the  ex- 
perience of  years  has  been  builded  a  code  of  ethics  and  a  style  of 
work.  Perhaps  it  may  be  called  an  idealism.  During  the  history 
of  newspaper  building  from  the  time  the  first  bulletin  was  etched 
on  a  piece  of  hardened  clay  in  Egypt  to  the  time  of  the  multiple 
multiple  press  printing  thousands  of  many  paged  papers  from 
machine-set  forms  in  a  single  hour,  the  owners  have  blazed  their 
own  trail.  They  found  their  own  ethics  and  marked  their  own 
ways  to  success. 

It  is  only  recently  that  Schools  of  Journalism  have  announced 
the  theory  that  the  principles  of  newspaper  work  may  be  taught 
successfully.  The  first  of  these  schools  was  only  established  a 
dozen  years  ago,  in  the  State  of  Missouri.  Then  there  were 
sneers  and  jeers  at  the  idea,  now  this  has  disappeared  and  other 
states  have  followed  in  line  and  the  thinking  men  of  the  profes- 
sion indorse  the  idea  whole-heartedly.  This  education  and 
teaching  of  ideals  has  brought  about  an  effort  among  groups  of 
papers  to  formulate  into  words  a  code.  These  declarations  have 
so  far  come  only  from  the  provincial  papers,  but  have  received 
the  strong  endorsement  of  the  larger  papers  and  world  wide 
comment  and  approval. 

The  foundation  of  such  a  code  is  the  responsibility  of  the 
press  to  its  public.  The  newspaper  is  the  interpreter.  Its  busi- 
ness is  to  gather  together  and  carry  to  the  world  the  truth  and  its 
interpretation. 

A  newspaper  does  not  belong  to  its  owner.  It  is  a  public 
service  institution  and  is  not  fulfilling  its  highest  functions  if  de- 
voted selfishly. 

As  a  fundamental  principle  it  is  agreed  that  the  truth  is  the 
basis  of  all  correct  journalism.  To  go  beyond  the  truth  is  a 
betrayal  of  trust.  To  suppress  the  truth  when  it  properly  belongs 
to  the  public  is  always  to  be  condemned  and  never  practiced. 

Control  of  news  or  comment  for  business  considerations  is 
•unworthy.  News  should  be  written,  interpreted  wholly  and  at 
all  times  in  the  interest  of  the  public. 

Not  only  arc  these  principles  to  be  applied  to  the  news  and 


LUDVIG  SAXE   (upper  left),  Christiania,  Norway; 

IMAIIK  (OMEN   (upper  right),  Dumedix,  New  Zealand; 

THALE8  COUTOUPJS   (l.Aver  left),  Atiien.s,  Greece; 

VIRGILIO  RODKIGLTEZ  BETETA    (lower  right)    Guatemala  City,  Guatemala. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  241 

editorials,  but  to  the  advertising  columns.  Deceptive  or  mis- 
leading advertisements  or  advertising  disguised  as  news  bring 
disrepute  to  the  newspaper  which  permits  such  practice. 

It  was  a  noted  Frenchman  who  wrote  "Suffer  yourself  to  be 
blamed,  imprisoned,  condemned;  suffer  yourself  even  to  be 
hanged,  but  publish  your  opinion.    It  is  not  a  right,  it  is  a  duty." 

Dante  wrote  "Give  light  and  the  people  will  find  their  own 
way."  This  is  the  great  duty  of  all  newspapers  whether  they 
are  published  in  the  teeming  centers  of  population  or  in  the 
smallest  community  and  if  we  agree,  then  it  is  manifest  that  any- 
thing which  is  permitted  to  blur  the  brilliancy  of  the  light,  or 
to  sully  the  stream  of  truth  should  be  shunned  as  a  plague. 

No  matter  what  may  be  our  view  of  the  origin  of  the  Ten 
Commandments,  whether  we  may  believe  or  not  the  story  as  told 
in  Exodus  that  this  charter  of  our  faith  and  practice  was  carved 
on  the  face  of  a  great  stone  by  God  himself  and  delivered  over 
to  Moses,  the  principles  there  enunciated  remain  the  same  and 
the  constitution  upon  which  the  progress  of  the  human  race  to- 
ward civilization  and  light  has  stood  for  centuries,  is  still  as  firm 
as  when  first  enunciated.  Of  miraculous  conception  or  the  con- 
densed expression  of  the  experience  of  mankind  reduced  to  words, 
the  effect  is  the  same.  All  codes  of  ethics  are  invariably  based 
upon  the  teaching  which  is  found  in  this  charter  and  concentrated 
in  a  verse  to  be  found  in  writing  attributed  to  the  prophet  Micah : 
"What  doth  the  Lord  require  of  Thee,  but  to  do  justly,  and  to  love 
mercy,  and  to  walk  humbly  with  thy  God." 

Newspapers  are  the  interpreters,  the  massage  bearers  in 
every  printed  page,  the  medium  which  gathers  from  every  quarter 
the  truth  and  the  lights  the  torch  for  its  perusal.  Theirs  is  to  break 
down  the  prejudices  and  the  boundaries  of  class,  to  remove  the 
barriers  of  ignorance  and  selfishness  and  to  dissolve  misunder- 
standing. This  accomplished,  armaments  will  disappear  and  war 
be  banished. 

This  is  the  mission  and  the  burden  of  the  newspapers  of  the 
world.  To  the  end  that  this  mission  be  accomplished  I  bring 
to  you  the  message  and  the  promise  of  the  community  news- 
paper, the  provincial  press.  In  all  our  strength  and  our  every 
effort  we  stand  with  you  who  represent  the  press  of  every  clime 
in  the  cause  of  high  ideals  and  of  world  co-operation  among  the 

Press  and  the  peoples  of  the  earth.     (Applause.) 
16 


242       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

THE  CHAIRMAN :    This  has  been  a  splendid  tribute  to  the 
village  newspapers  of  the  mainland  of  the  United  States. 
It  closes  the  program  for  this  afternoon. 


SIXTH    SESSION. 

WEDNESDAY  MORNING,  OCTOBER  19,  1921. 

Congress  was  called  to  order  at  9  o'clock.  President  Williams 
in  the  chair. 

THE  SECRETARY :  I  have  here  some  further  messages  of 
greeting.  The  first  is  from  Mr.  Gus  J.  Karger,  Chairman  of  the 
Washington  Correspondents,  who  says  in  part : 

We  of  the  Fourth  Estate  are  the  men  and  women  on  the  side  lines 
and  our  part  in  the  proceedings  is  to  enforce  the  rules  of  fair  play — fair 
play  to  the  public  by  the  players,  and  fair  play  to  the  players  by  the  public. 
We  live  in  an  era  of  great  movements  and  we  must  help  to  give  them 
the  proper  direction  as  far  as  in  our  power  lies.  The  Press  Congress  of 
the  World  may  make  of  itself  a  strong  instrument  toward  that  end.  With 
cordial  regards  and  best  wishes  for  the  success  of  the   Congress." 

The  next  is  from  Mr.  xA.aron  Watson  of  London: 
It  would  have  been  delightful  to  me  to  meet  the  representatives  of 
the  World's  Press  at  Honolulu ;  but,  as  there  are  circumstances  which 
make  it  impossible  for  me  to  be  present,  it  is  a  satisfaction  to  me  to  be- 
lieve that  I  have  been  of  service  to  tliose  who  have  brought  about  so  re- 
markable an  event,  and  to  think  that  the  meeting  must  have  beneficial  re- 
sults not  only  in  promoting  acquaintanceship  among  some  of  the  leading 
journalists  of  the  world — a  good  end  in  itself — but  in  extending  public 
recognition  of  the  common  purpose  and  the  high  mission  of  journalism. 

The  World's  Press  Congress  is,  in  its  own  way,  a  League  of  Nations. 
The  World's  Press  has  an  enormous,  perhaps  an  excessive,  power  of  pro- 
moting the  same  ends,  or  of  impeding  them.  Those  of  us  who  have  had 
a  share  in  the  work  that  has  preceded  the  Honolulu  Congress  have  liad 
our  visions  of  a  World's  Press  so  far  united  in  feeling  and  in  purpose  as 
to  be  undeviatingly  on  the  side  of  the  world's  highest  interests  and  as- 
pirations.   So,  indeed,  may  it  be. 

Also  one  from  Mr.  T.  W.  Heney,  Queensland,  who  says : 
I  am  satisfied  that  the  peace  and  prosperity  of  the  Pacific  begins 
now  to  depend,  under  Providence,  upon  tlie  frequent  meeting  of  the  chief 
public  men,  business  men,  journalists,  literary  men,  teachers  and  educa- 
tionalists, including  of  course,  women,  of  each  country  having  a  Pacific 
littoral.  Whoever  serves  and  helps  that  ideal  is  a  good  servant  and  true 
friend  of  the  Pacific. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  As  the  first  speaker  of  the  morning  I 
have  the  privilege  of  presenting  to  you  a  man  who  has  done  more 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  243 

than  most  men  have  done  in  behalf  of  better  journahsm  in  the 
United  States  and  throughout  the  world;  a  man  whose  publica- 
tion and  personal  service  have  been  given  withovit  stint  to  the 
promotion  of  the  profession  of  journalism:  Mr.  James  Wright 
Brown,  Editor  of  Editor  and  Publisher,  New  York  City. 

MR.  BROWN  :  Mr.  President,  Fellow  Delegates  of  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World:  The  Congress  will  readily  agree  with 
Mr.  Thales  Coutoupis  that  the  "Press  of  the  world  must  be  free." 
Especially  so  of  governmental  and  parliamentary  control.  Legit- 
imate public  service  by  the  press  must  not  be  interfered  with. 
Indeed  I  am  very  strongly  of  the  opinion  that  the  members  of 
the  Congress  here  assembled  believe  that  modern  publicity  has 
become  a  tremendous  force  which  righteovisly  administered  will 
lift  mankind  on  to  higher  ground  for  no  problem  is  too  big  for  an 
honest  press  to  tackle.  News  and  views  are  the  raw  material 
of  public  opinion  and  public  opinion  in  a  democracy  is  impelling 
and  controlling. 

Mr.  Coutoupis  voiced  his  sincere  regret  because  of  the  in- 
ability of  the  militant  journalists  to  finance  a  new  venture  these 
high  cost  days  without  seeking  financial  aid  and  assistance  of 
bankers  and  big  advertisers. 

In  this  connection  it  may  interest  him  to  learn  that  one  of 
our  big  newspaper  concerns  has  started  four  new  papers  in  the 
United  States  of  America  in  the  last  four  months — Fort  Worth, 
Birmingham,  Norfolk  and  Washington,  D.  C. — and  plans  to  start 
thirteen  new  enterprises  this  year.  The  Scripps  newspapers  are 
evening  six-day  papers,  so-called  "People's  papers."  They  begin 
in  a  small  way  with  a  very  small  force  and  few  pages.  They 
follow  the  budget  system  carefully.  Advertisements  are  not  so- 
licited for  the  first  six  months.  No  loans  are  soughi,  enough 
money  is  deposited  in  bank  to  pay  salaries  and  expenses 
the  first  year.  If  after  a  fair  trial  the  paper  is  not  making  a 
profit,  it  is  discontinued.  There  is  absolutely  no  sentiment  about 
it.  The  paper  must  be  made  to  pay.  The  Scripps  profit  basis 
is  about  twenty  per  cent  of  gross  receipts.  The  total  volume  of 
business  of  this  organization  last  year  amounted  to  about  twenty- 
five  million  dollars. 

It  may  also  be  of  interest  to  Mr.  Coutoupis  and  some  of  the 
overseas  delegates  to  learn  that  whereas  the  present  Greek  Gov- 


244      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

ernment  is  concentrating  its  advertising  in  the  Royalist  press,  the 
American  Government  is  using  display  space  in  American  daily 
and  weekly  newspapers  irrespective  of  political  consideration  to 
promote  the  interests  of  the  Army  and  Navy  and  the  Shipping 
Board,  and  the  service  has  been  quite  satisfactory. 

We  all  agree,  I'm  sure,  that  the  press  should  be  used  in  far 
greater  measure  than  at  present  to  promulgate  ideas.  Scandals 
and  crimes  and  so  called  crimson  news,  have  occupied  the  col- 
umns of  newspapers  the  world  over  since  the  signing  of  the 
armistice,  to  the  exclusion  of  the  live  and  vital  international  and 
domestic  problems  that  must  inevitably  engage  the  attention  of 
the  thoughtful  peoples  of  the  world. 

With  us  in  the  States  we  have  had  the  Hamon  murder  case, 
the  Stillman  divorce  and  the  Arbuckle  scandal  all  over  our  front 
pages  for  months  past.  Professional  baseball  and  other  sports 
have  been  given  space  out  of  all  proportion  to  their  importance. 
1  for  one  have  felt  that  this  was  just  a  natural  and  inevitable  re- 
action from  the  goose-stepping  of  war  days,  just  a  passing  phase, 
on  the  road  to  more  militant  public  service  by  the  press  than 
ever  before. 

"Facts  ought  to  be  kept  holy,"  is  the  immortal  phrase  of 
Ludvig  Saxe,  of  Norway.  It  should  be  emblazoned  on  the 
editorial  walls  of  the  world,  but  whilst  we  are  in  complete  har- 
mony and  sympathy  with  this  ideal  we  must  vigorously  dissent 
to  the  sentiment  quoted  that  "It  does  not  pay  to  publish  a  clean 
newspaper  as  people  want  a  shady  one." 

American  publishers  are  finding  out  that  the  clean,  dependable, 
reliably  accurate  newspaper  is  the  newspaper  that  wins  and 
holds  public  confidence  and  sound  financial  support.  It  has  been 
very  clearly  demonstrated  in  American  journalism  that  character 
is  the  first  essential  to  success.  That  the  kept  newspaper  is  usually 
kept  as  no  one  wants  it. 

With  Mr.  Saxe's  observations  in  re-advertising  influence  and 
control  we  are  in  hearty  sympathy.  There  are  many  newspapers 
in  the  States  dominated  by  the  advertising  department  as  referred 
to  by  Mr.  Cohen  and  Mr.  Saxe.  On  many  of  these  newspapers 
the  managing  editor  is  merely  a  sort  of  an  assistant  advertising 
manager,  but  thank  God,  the  pendulum  is  now  swinging  in  the 
other  direction  and  in  the  last  analysis  the  total  of  such  news- 
papers in  the  United  States  is  a  small  percentage  of  the  whole. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  245 

The  whole  is  represented  by  two  thousand  five  hundred  and 
seventy-four  newspapers,  morning,  evening  and  Sunday,  having 
a  net  paid  "A.  B.  C."  circulation  of   forty-seven  million  copies. 
432  Morning  10,000,000  Circulation 

1606  Evening  18,500,000 

536  Sunday  19,000,000 

"A.  B.  C."  circulation  means  that  the  circulation  statements 
of  newspaper  publishers  are  semi-annually  audited  by  the  auditors 
of  the  Audit  Bureau  of  Circulations,  an  organization  maintained 
through  the  active  interest  and  co-operation  of  all  the  publish- 
ing interests  in  the  United  States,  magazines,  newspapers,  farm 
papers,  advertisers  and  advertising  agents,  etc.  This  was  an 
increase  of  circulation  for  these  newspapers  of  more  than  two 
million  copies  during  the  year. 

The  Bourne  law  adopted  by  the  American  Congress  in  1912 
contains  many  of  the  features  emphasized  by  Mr.  Coutoupis  as 
altogether  desirable. 

For  example  under  the  Bourne  law  American  newspaper 
publishers  must  file  semi-annually  with  the  local  postmaster  a 
statement  giving  the  names  of  the  responsible  editors  and  pub- 
lishers, managing  editors,  business  managers,  stockholders,  own- 
ing more  than  one  per  cent  of  the  capital  stock,  the  bond  holders, 
and  the  average  net  paid  circulation  of  the  newspaper  for  the 
preceding  six  months.  This  statement  must  be  filed  April  1  and 
October  1,  each  year,  moreover  it  must  be  printed  in  the  columns 
of  said  daily  newspaper  within  five  days  of  filing;  however,  there 
is  no  penalty  for  violating  or  false  statement,  but  it  is  not  neces- 
sary, as  most  of  the  newspapers  find  it  distinctly  to  their  ad- 
vantage to  be  a  member  of  the  "A.  B.  C."  and  make  truthful, 
dependable  statements  of  net  paid  circulations.  Some  newspapers 
in  America  are  of  the  "fifth  page"  variety  to  which  Mr.  Saxe 
has  referred,  but  the  number  is  small  and  growing  smaller. 

Most  of  our  newspapers  are  of  the  class  to  which  Mr.  Saxe 
referred  as  "small  and  poor"  confining  advertising  to  advertising 
pages  and  consecratedly  devoted  to  the  public  interest.  Of  course, 
we  have  papers  of  the  immensely  prosperous  sort,  making  yearly 
profits  after  taxes  in  excess  of  one  million  dollars  and  one  or 
two  in  the  two  million  class  but  of  the  two  thousand  six  hundred 
dailies  and  eleven  thousand   weekly   newspapers   in   the   United 


246       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

States  of  America,  by  far  the  vast  majority  are  simply  making 
a  living  for  the  owner  a  very  modest  living  at  that.  They  are 
honestly  administered. 

Mr.  Saxe  spoke  of  the  Master  Craftsman  turned  out  of  a 
post  because  he  refused  to  write  that  which  he  did  not  believe. 
All  honor  to  him,  which  recalls  to  my  mind  the  suggestion  that 
I  made  some  time  ago  that  the  Congress  should  have  and  main- 
tain a  welfare  committee  for  the  aid  and  assistance  of  all  such 
worthy  brothers. 

Messrs.  Coutoupis  and  Saxe  agree  that  we  must  raise  the 
ethical  standards  if  we  are  to  inspire  a  greater  devotion  to  the 
public  interest. 

Mr.  Sugimura  raises  the  question  "what  should  be  the  stand- 
ard of  value? 

All  of  which  suggests  to  my  mind  the  need  for  an  international 
code  of  ethics  or  an  international  Standard  of  Practice  that 
would  be  at  all  times  available  for  the  pressmen  of  the  world. 
To  this  end  I  suggest  the  appointment  of  an  ad  interim  commit- 
tee whose  duty  it  should  be  to  give  these  questions  careful  and 
painstaking  study  in  order  that  the  whole  profession  of  journal- 
ism throughout  the  world  may  be  served  in  a  big  way. 

I  have  not  deemed  it  either  wise  or  expedient  to  discuss  in 
this  presence  the  historical  background  of  the  fight  that  has  been 
waged  in  the  last  three  hundred  years  for  freedom  of  speech  and 
of  the  press. 

In  the  United  States  in  recent  months  there  have  been  three 
attempts  made  to  discipline  and  control  the  utterances  of  news- 
papers. 

The  attempt  of  Postmaster  General  Burleson  to  discipline  the 
New  York  Socialist  daily,  the  Call,  for  criticism  of  Governmental 
policies  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  second  class  privilege. 

The  ten  million  dollar  suit  of  the  City  of  Chicago  filed  against 
the  Chicago  Tribune  and  the  Chicago  Daily  News.  The  suit  is 
for  defamation  and  libel.  The  articles  upon  which  the  suit  is 
based  consists  of  some  thirty-five  in  number  running  into  dif- 
ferent publications  over  a  series  of  three  months.  The  series 
are  not  in  serial  form ;  they  are  detached  publications,  not  refer- 
ring one  to  another  in  any  way.  They  allege  that  the  city  is 
bankrupt,  the  streets  of  the  city  are  filled  with  dust  and  dirt. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  247 

the  moral  conditions  constitute  a  serious  menace  against  women 
and  children,  etc.  There  is  only  one  similar  suit  to  it  in  the  whole 
history  of  jurisprudence.  That  was  a  suit  filed  more  than  a  hun- 
dred years  ago,  by  the  city  of  Manchester  against  a  local  paper. 

The  attempt  of  Mayor  Hylan  of  New  York  City  to  influence 
the  merchants  of  the  great  city  to  withdraw  their  advertising 
from  some  of  the  daily  newspapers  that  dared  to  criticise  the 
Mayor  and  point  out  to  their  readers  the  prevalence  of  crime. 

I  have  not  given  much  thought  in  this  brief  talk  to  a  discus- 
sion of  the  historical  background  of  the  fight  for  freedom  of 
speech  and  of  the  press  with  all  of  which  the  members  of  the 
Congress  are  more  or  less  familiar.  But  in  answer  to  the  query 
as  to  the  necessity  and  desirability  of  freedom  of  the  press,  I 
should  like  to  quote  to  you  three  master  craftsmen  and  advocates 
of  other  days. 

John  Milton,  who,  in  1643,  indignant  over  the  shameful  at- 
tempts to  rob  the  press  of  its  rights,  and  stirred  to  the  very  depths 
of  his  soul  by  the  indignities  heaped  upon  the  heads  of  those 
who  dared  lift  up  their  voices  against  the  abuse  of  power  by  the 
Government,  wrote  the  most  forceful  and  convincing  argument 
for  the  liberty  of  the  press  that  had  been  written  up  to  that  time, 
and  which  is  still  regarded  as  a  masterly  presentation  of  the  sub- 
ject. Milton  declared  that  if  printing  was  to  be  regulated  then 
all  recreations  and  pastimes,  all  that  is  delightful  to  man,  must 
be  regulated. 

"Give  me  the  liberty  to  know,  to  utter,  and  to  argue  freely 
according  to  conscience  above  all  (other)  liberties,"  he  said,  "For 
who  knows  not  that  Truth  is  strong,  next  to  the  Almighty;  she 
needs  no  policies,  nor  stratagems,  nor  licensings  to  make  her 
victorious.  Those  are  the  shifts  and  defences  that  Error  uses 
against  her  power.  A  free  country  without  the  Liberty  of  the 
Press  is  a  contradiction  of  terms ;  it  is  free  slavery  or  unchained 
liberty." 

A  hundred  years  later  Lord  Thomas  Erskine,  whom  Lord 
Campbell  in  his  "Lives  of  the  Chancellors,"  pronounced  "with- 
out equal  in  ancient  or  modern  times  as  an  advocate  in  the 
Forum,"  declared  that  "men  cannot  communicate  their  free 
thoughts  to  one  another  with  a  lash  held  over  their  heads.  Genius 
breaks  from  the  fetters  of  criticism.  Subject  it  to  the  critic 
and  you  tame  it  into  dullness. 


248       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

"The  press,"  he  continues,  ",must  be  free ;  it  has  always  been 
so  and  much  evil  has  been  corrected  by  it.  If  government  finds 
itself  annoyed  by  it,  let  it  examine  its  own  conduct  and  it  will 
find  the  cause ;  let  it  amend  it  and  it  will  find  the  remedy. 

"A  free  and  unlicensed  press,  in  the  great  and  legal  sense  of 
the  expression,  has  led  all  the  blessings,  both  of  religion  and 
government,  which  Great  Britain  or  any  part  of  the  world  at 
this  moment  enjoys,  and  is  calculated  still  further  to  advance 
mankind  to  higher  degrees  of  civilization  and  happiness.  Gov- 
ernment, in  its  own  estimation  has  been  at  all  times  a  system  of 
protection ;  but  a  free  press  has  examined  and  detected  its  errors 
and  the  people  from  time  to  time  reformed  them.  The  more 
men  are  enlightened  the  better  they  will  be  qualified  to  be  good 
subjects  of  a  good  Government." 

William  Ellery  Channing,  the  Unitarian  clergyman  who  dur- 
ing the  early  days  of  the  last  century,  was  one  of  the  most  elo- 
quent opponents  of  slavery  in  America  and  an  ardent  defender 
of  the  liberty  of  the  press,  declared : 

"Fredom  of  opinion,  of  speech  and  of  the  press  is  our  most 
valuable  privilege,  the  very  soul  of  republican  institutions,  the 
safeguard  of  all  other  rights.  Nothing  awakens  and  improves 
man  so  much  as  the  free  communication  of  thoughts  and  feel- 
ings. If  men  abandon  free  discussion ;  if ,  awed  by  threats,  they 
suppress  their  convictions ;  if  rulers  succeed  in  silencing  every 
voice  but  that  which  approves  them;  if  nothing  reaches  the  people 
but  what  would  lend  support  to  men  in  power  then  farczvell  to 
liberty;  the  form  of  a  free  government  may  remain,  but  the  life, 
the  soul,  the  substance  is  fled." 

In  my  humble  judgment  this  freedom  of  the  press  may  best 
be  attained  and  safeguarded  by  the  publication  of  more  accurate 
and  dependable  newspapers  righteously  administered  in  the  pub- 
lic interest. 

An  international  code  of  ethics  and  standard  of  practice  would 
aid  and  assist  materially  in  bringing  this  about. 

The  following  is  President  Williams'  Creed: 

Tlie  Journalist's  Creed. 

I  believe  in  the  profession  of  journalism. 

I  believe  that  the  public  journal  is  a  public  trust ;  that  all  connected 
willi   it  are,  to  the    full  measure   of   their   responsibilitj',   trustees    for   the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  249 

public;  that  acceptance  of  lesser  service  than  the  public  service  is  betrayal 
of  this  trust. 

I  believe  that  clear  thinking  and  clear  statement,  accuracy  and  fairness, 
are  fundamental  to  good  journalism. 

I  believe  that  a  journalist  should  write  only  vi^hat  he  holds  in  his  heart 
to  be  true. 

I  believe  that  suppression  of  the  news,  for  any  consideration  other 
than  the  welfare  of  society,  is  indefensible. 

I  believe  that  no  one  should  write  as  a  journalist  what  he  would  not 
say  as  a  gentleman;  that  bribery  by  one's  own  pocketbook  is  as  much 
to  be  avoided  as  bribery  by  the  pocketbook  of  another ;  that  individual  re- 
sponsibility may  not  be  escaped  by  pleading  another's  instructions  or  an- 
other's dividends. 

I  believe  that  advertising,  news  and  editorial  columns  should  alike  serve 
the  best  interests  of  readers;  that  a  single  standard  of  helpful  truth  and 
cleanness  should  prevail  for  all;  that  the  supreme  test  of  good  journalism 
is  the  measure  of   its  public  service. 

I  believe  that  the  journalism  which  succeeds  best — and  best  deserves 
success — fears  God  and  honors  man ;  is  stoutly  independent,  unmoved  by 
pride  of  opinion  or  greed  of  power ;  constructive ;  tolerant  but  never  care- 
less ;  self-controlled,  patient,  always  respectful  of  its  readers  but  always 
unafraid;  is  quickly  indignant  at  injustice;  is  unswayed  by  the  appeal 
of  privilege  or  the  clamor  of  the  mob ;  seeks  to  give  every  inan  a  cliance 
and,  as  far  as  law  and  honest  wage  and  recognition  of  human  brotherhood 
can  make  it  so,  an  equal  chance ;  is  profoundly  patriotic  while  sincerely 
promoting  international  good  will  and  cementing  world-comradeship,  is 
a  journalism  of  humanity,  of  and  for  today's  world.    (Applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  second  speaker  of  the  inorning  is 
Mr.  F.  P.  Glass,  of  the  United  States,  about  whom  I  said  some 
good  things  yesterday,  which  remain  true  today. 

MR.  GLASS:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  The 
subject  assigned  to  me  by  your  worthy  President  is  "Tendencies 
in  Present  Day  Journalism."  You  will  recognize  at  once  that 
it  is  a  big  assignment.  Tendencies  are  as  numerous  and  varied  as 
the  eyes  of  observers.  "Present  day"  may  be  interpreted  very 
broadly.  And  the  title  might  be  construed  to  include  the  news- 
papers of  other  cotmtries  than  the  United  States. 

In  this  paper  the  attempt  will  be  made  to  treat  the  subject 
in  a  common-sense  way.  Not  all  tendencies  will  be  enumerated — 
the  outstanding  ones  will  be  picked  out.  The  "present-day"  out- 
look must  be  dependent  upon  developments  of  recent  years.  And 
while  references  may  be  made  to  the  newspapers  of  other  coun- 


250       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

tries,  there  will  be  no  attempt  at  analysis  of  their  tendencies.  1 
shall  also  speak  mainly  of  daily  papers. 

Probably  it  may  be  instructive  to  give  you  some  of  the  facts 
as  to  the  personal  experiences  which  unavoidably  must  be  behind 
tiiis  paper.  The  writer  has  been  connected  with  four  papers  in 
Alabama.  Just  out  of  Princeton  University  he  started  a  country 
weekly  forty  years  ago,  merely  interrupting  the  study  of  law  for 
that  supposed  temporary  undertaking.  The  fascinating  quality 
of  printer's  ink  got  its  grip  on  him,  and  in  a  year's  time  he  bought 
control  of  a  daily  in  Selma,  then  a  city  of  10,000.  Four  years 
later  he  moved  to  Montgomery,  the  State  capital,  assuming  the 
general  management  of  The  Montgomery  Advertiser,  one  of 
the  Oldest  morning  dailies  in  the  South.  There  he  was  in  associa- 
tion with  one  of  the  noted  editors  of  the  historic  South,  Major 
William  Wallace  Screws,  who  was  for  fifty  years  its  directing 
spirit.  He  was  an  editor  of  the  fine  traditional  Southern 
type  of  the  school  of  John  Forsyth  and  Henry  Watterson. 

He  steadily  pressed  me  into  service  in  political  campaigns 
as  editorial  assistant,  for  while  he  was  the  sweetest  of  men,  he 
believed  it  a  newspaper's  duty  to  fight  vigorously  for  honest 
govermnent  and  high-class  men  as  officials.  Then  after  twenty- 
five  years'  association  with  such  a  wise  and  noble  mentor,  I  was 
induced  to  take  an  interest  in  The  Birmingham  News,  an  evening 
paper,  in  the  great  industrial  center  of  the  South.  For  five  years 
my  time  was  divided  each  week  between  duties  as  general  man- 
ager of  the  Montgomery  morning  paper  and  as  editor  of  the 
Birmingham  evening  paper.  Later,  time  and  interest  were  con- 
centrated at  Birmingham.  For  a  year  I  have  been  out  of  news- 
paperdom  altogether. 

It  will  be  seen  that  such  training  from  the  old-time  cases  of 
a  country  weekly  through  dailies  in  three  cities  of  different 
sizes,  surroundings  and  ideals  at  first,  amid  the  trying  conditions 
of  the  South  following  the  period  of  reconstruction  and  then 
in  its  later  astonishing  industrial  development,  would  tend  to 
develop  a  sort  of  progressive-conservative  in  journalistic  ideals. 
And  I  think  that  has  been  the  result.  I  have  always  revered  the 
essential  soundness  of  the  traditional  Southern  newspaper  in  its 
consistent  devotion  to  constitutional  principles  and  its  fearless 
advocacy  of  honor  and  honesty  in  public  life.    I  have  always  been 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  251 

receptive  of  new  ideas  and  perhaps  too  quick  to  respond  to  pro- 
gressive methods  in  newspaper  conduct.  Necessity  has  forced 
me  into  work  at  various  times  in  all  departments  of  a  newspaper — 
mechanical,  circulation,  advertising,  reportorial,  desk  work,  ed- 
itorial writing  and  general  management.  While  I  had  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  college  education,  schools  of  journalism,  where  the 
lessons  of  past  newspaper  experience  and  the  best  methods  of 
special  equipment  are  taught,  were  unknown  in  my  youth.  What 
little  I  have  learned  about  the  gigantic  task  of  journalism  has 
come  from  active  masters  and  from  hard  knocks,  some  of  which 
frequently  laid  me  out  flat  in  more  ways  than  one. 

But  enough  of  preliminaries.  Let  us  go  to  the  subject.  What 
are  the  conspicuous  tendencies  in  present-day  journalism? 

There  has  been  abundant  public  discussion  of  the  subject 
in  the  last  year  especially,  and  there  are  conflicting  views.  Nat- 
urally there  have  been  great  changes  going  on  in  newspapers  in 
our  rapidly  growing  country  in  the  last  generation,  and  these 
changes  have  been  crystallized,  or  made  more  noticeable,  in  the 
last  few  years  of  world  war  and  world  readjustment.  There  has 
been  much  materialistic  growth  and  hence  considerable  pessimism 
in  the  criticism  of  unavoidable  changes.  There  have  been  also 
of  late  extraordinary  difficulties  and  abnormal  problems  for  pub- 
lishers in  print  paper  and  labor  conditions,  as  well  as  for  editors. 
There  has  been  a  period  of  transition,  and  not  all  the  results  of 
the  different  factors  in  the  manifest  evolution  are  clear  and  in- 
disputable. 

Probably  the  most  conspicuous  change  in  newspapers  in  recent 
years  has  been  towards  breadth  and  strength  of  business  con- 
duct. To  one  who  has  attended  annually  the  sessions  of  the 
American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association  for  more  than 
twenty-five  years,  this  is  very  apparent.  Of  course,  there  have 
been  dailies  in  the  largest  cities  for  many  years  which  were  ably 
managed  and  profitable.  But  in  the  period  named  the  business 
of  publishing  has  been  systemized  all  over  the  country,  and 
there  are  now  hundreds  of  papers  that  are  models  in  a  business 
way.  They  have  efficient  organizations,  with  various  depart- 
ments, mechanical,  circulation,  advertising,  auditing,  which  are 
capably  manned  and  harmoniously  functioning  in  team  work. 
The  net  result  may  be  told  in  one  simple  statement.     In   1880 


252       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  newsprint  consumption  of  this  country  was  three  pounds 
per  capita;  in  1919  it  was  thirty-three  pounds  per  capita. 

Naturally  with  this  wide-spread  business  development  of  news- 
papers there  has  been  an  undue  emphasis  upon  the  part  that  the 
business  organizations  have  played  in  the  outcome.  The  cir- 
culation manager  has  been  credited  with  it,  the  advertising  man- 
ager has  glorified  himself  on  account  of  it,  the  business  manager 
has  been  pufifed  up  with  big  claims  and  bigger  salaries,  the  pub- 
lisher has  too  frequently  become  the  chief  owner  and  has  arro- 
gated to  himself  the  airs  of  a  genius,  a  Napoleon  of  finance.  Too 
often,  it  must  be  admitted,  have  newspapers  deteriorated  into 
mere  factories  for  the  production  of  advertising  space,  and  too 
frequently  great  space  merchants  have  imagined  that  they  were 
born  journalists.  Sometimes  these  space  merchants  have  decided 
that  the  counting  house  downstairs  was  the  dynamo  of  their  es- 
tablishments, instead  of  the  brains  and  the  souls  of  the  men  of 
vision  upstairs  who  handled  the  news  of  the  world  and  inter- 
preted it  so  effectively  that  circulators  and  advertising  men  were 
enabled  to  sell  the  papers  and  the  space  profitably. 

One  incident  of  this  too  common  elevation  of  the  space  mer- 
chant to  power  has  been  the  charge  of  control  of  papers  by  in- 
terests, of  their  failure  to  print  the  news,  all  the  news,  the  real 
facts  of  vital  interest  to  the  public.  This  has  led  frequently  to 
cynical  distrust  of  newspapers,  and  sometimes  to  arguments  that 
papers  have  lost  their  influence.  In  the  last  few  years  the  suc- 
cess of  candidates  for  mayor  in  some  of  the  largest  cities,  in 
spite  of  the  opposition  of  all  the  local  papers,  has  been  cited  as 
proof  of  this  alleged  degeneration  of  the  press.  And  in  con- 
nection with  this  argument  there  have  been  allegations  of  con- 
ditions from  important  sources  which  have  been  alarming. 

One  of  these  allegations  was  made  by  a  dry  goods  trade  pub- 
lication a  few  months  ago.  Substantially  it  was  that  there  ex- 
isted a  close  working  arrangement  between  editorial  and  business 
offices.  There  have  been  frequent  charges  that  department  stores 
suppressed  the  publication  of  news  injurious  to  them.  And  yet 
stronger  indictments  have  been  brought  against  newspapers  by 
editors  of  national  repute.  Mr.  Charles  Grant  Miller,  formerly 
of  the  Cleveland  Plain  Dealer,  the  Christian  Herald  and  t!ie 
Scripps-McRae   League,   in  a   series   of   signed   articles   in    The 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  253 

Editor  and  Publisher,  has  been  especially  vigorous  in  denouncing 
the  system  of  publicity  work  done  for  great  corporations,  banks 
and  statesmen  all  over  the  country  by  capable  ex-newspaper  men. 
He  has  said  this : 

Propaganda  and  puffery,  double-cooked  news  and  predigested  opinion 
are  sapping  the  life  blood  of  America's  newspapers.  For  five  years  there 
has  been  a  world-wide  famine  in  facts.  Truth,  the  whole  truth  and  nothing 
but  the  truth  about  anything  of  grave  public  interest  seems  to  have  dis- 
appeared from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Date  lines  are  no  longer  the  signs 
of  the  real  source  of  the  news.  Assertion  is  little  indication  of  the  truth. 
Most  of  the  foreign  news  is  strained  through  the  foreign  loan  centers 
of  Wall  Street,  and  where  all  the  rest  of  the  world-full  of  interested,  if 
not  interesting,  misinformation  comes  from,  the  Lord  only  knows. 

Even  so  eminent  an  editor  as  Frank  Cobb,  of  the  New  York 
World,  probably  the  ablest,  most  virile  editorial  writer  on  the 
American  press,  lately  protested  against  the  terrific  volume  of 
propaganda  and  colored  news,  termed  in  newspaper  vernacular 
"hand-outs."  He  is  reported  as  having  said  in  an  address  that 
the  press  was  "exhausted"  by  the  war,  that  "the  war  did  more  to 
debauch  journalism  than  anything  that  has  ever  happened."  He 
deplored  the  system  of  censorship  that  was  used  as  a  war  neces- 
sity, and  spoke  of  its  spread  into  all  channels  of  information. 
Inside  censorship  has  unquestionably  gained  too  much  of  a  grip 
on  too  many  news  sources,  official,  public  and  private.  He  re- 
grets that  the  use  of  censorship  through  hired  publicity  men  has 
been  accepted  and  permitted  too  much  by  newspaper  editors. 
One  writer  has  called  this  stereotyped  publicity  the  "hook-worm 
of  journalism." 

There  can  be  no  question  that  this  program  has  become  too 
general.  Hired  publicity  men  are  too  common  in  the  highest 
circles  at  Washington.  It  is  estimated  that  there  are  1,200  in 
New  York  alone.  They  are  common  in  all  the  smaller  cities  of 
the  country.  This  system  has  a  two-fold  injurious  influence.  Not 
only  does  it  generally  repress  and  restrict  the  sources  of  news, 
but  it  also  tempts  with  high  salaries  capable,  progressive  news- 
paper men  out  of  great  usefulness  and  bright  futures  into  com- 
fortable, but  dwarfing  and  semi-paralyzing  sinecures. 

Let  us  move  on  to  the  consideration  of  other  tendencies  in 
latter-day  and  present  journalism  that  are  more  perceptible  and 
perhaps  more  permanent.     There  has  taken  place  a  great  change 


254       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

in  the  general  type  of  newspapers,  in  respect  to  their  news  con- 
duct. 

It  has  not  been  many  years  since  it  was  the  ambition  and  the 
undertaking-  of  the  daily  papers  to  print  all  the  news,  or  as  much 
of  it  as  their  growing  incomes  could  afford.  The  older  news- 
paper men  here  will  recall  the  period  when  such  metropolitan 
papers  as  The  New  York  World,  The  New  York  Herald,  The 
Chicago  Tribune,  The  St.  Louis  Globe  Democrat,  and  others 
like  them  in  Boston,  Philadelphia,  Baltimore  and  Cincinnati  were 
daily  epitomes  of  all  the  happenings  of  the  world  and  especially 
of  our  own  country.  They  were  very  full  and  complete  news- 
papers, with  wide-awake  correspondents  in  every  state  and  in 
every  city  of  consequence,  as  well  as  in  many  parts  of  the  world. 
You  could  find  every  news  happening  of  consequence  in  a  par- 
agraph or  a  stick  or  two,  or  more,  as  its  importance  dictated. 
Efforts  for  national  circulation  were  common,  and  heavy  expenses 
undertaken  for  special  fast  trains  to  get  general  circulation  with 
the  splendid  feast  of  general  news. 

Rapidly  all  that  plan  of  newspaper  making  has  changed.  How 
many  papers  of  that  type  remain?  Very  few,  of  which  perhaps 
The  New  York  Times  is  the  nearest  approximation.  The  purpose 
of  publishers  and  the  program  of  managing  editors  has  been  trans- 
formed into  getting  local  news,  into  playing  it  up  in  big  space 
with  large  headlines.  Even  during  the  Great  War  the  process 
went  on.  Big  battles  had  the  first  claim  in  the  make-up,  but 
local  news  was  not  squeezed  off  the  first  page.  Today  in  the 
majority  of  daily  offices  the  country  over  a  sensational  divorce 
suit  in  high  local  society,  or  a  particularly  revolting  crime  in  the 
neighborhood,  is  considered  worth  the  best  talent  in  handling 
and  the  most  conspicuous  space  in  the  make-up.  Even  the  great 
news  associations  have  yielded  to  this  pressure,  as  illustrated  in 
the  recent  Arbuckle  case. 

This  change  of  standpoint  as  to  the  relative  value  of  news 
has  reached  the  smaller  cities  of  the  country,  because  their  news- 
paper managers  and  managing  editors  keep  close  watch  on 
metropolitan  tendencies.  In  how  few  papers  is  the  bulk  of  the 
splendid  Associated  Press  report  printed?  In  many  offices  it  is 
used  as  a  mere  index  to  news,  by  which  perhaps  to  order  specials, 
while  the  mass  of  it  comes  from  too  far  away  to  consume  space, 
and  so  it  is  thrown  aside. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  255 

What  has  been  the  cause  of  this  remarkable  and  not  alto- 
gether desirable  transformation  in  news  valuation?  It  is  the 
imperative  requirement  of  the  business  office  for  local  circula- 
tion. The  advertising  manager  demands  it.  The  fierce  compe- 
tition between  two  or  more  dailies  in  every  city  for  the  larger 
volume  of  advertising  space  has  long  ago  distorted  the  vision 
of  publisher  and  managing  editor.  The  circulation  man  finds 
that  the  public  eats  up  the  local  news,  especially  if  it  has  a  sen- 
sational quality,  and  so  the  drive  is  made  on  all  hands  to  please 
the  public,  to  beat  the  other  fellow  in  local  circulation,  and  to 
get  the  record  in  advertising. 

There  is  where  the  modern  business  system  of  the  news- 
papers has  yielded  too  much  to  the  spirit  of  commercialism.  Full 
incomes  and  good  profits  are  desirable  things,  of  course,  but 
principle  and  service  should  not  be  timidly  subordinated  to  profit. 
Is  it  not  true  frequently  that  the  high  function  of  the  paper  as 
a  teacher  and  a  leader  is  forgotten  in  the  greed  for  income  and 
profit?  Furthermore,  is  it  not  undesirable  education  for  the 
people  that  the  important  daily  developments  of  progress  and 
material  advancement  all  over  the  land  and  the  world  should  be 
minimized  or  neglected  in  order  to  pander  to  a  depraved  taste  for 
the  sensational  and  salacious?  Cannot  large  circulations  be 
gained  and  held  by  all  papers,  as  in  the  case  of  some,  through 
the  provision  of  the  better  class  of  news  written  intelligently 
and  handled  tastefully?  Take  The  Christian  Science  Monitor, 
of  Boston,  for  instance.  Its  name  is  largely  a  misnomer — it  is 
not  nearly  so  much  a  denominational  organ  as  an  excellent  news- 
paper, with  news  well  chosen  and  well  written.  In  this  connec- 
tion it  may  be  said  that  no  purely  religious  daily  has  ever  suc- 
ceeded, because  such  undertakings  have  been  too  dull  and  heavy 
There  has  lately  been  another  example  of  failure  of  such  a 
publication  in  Chicago. 

The  highest  sort  of  newspaper  conduct  and  success  will  re- 
quire working  forces  with  more  brains  and  better  eilucation. 
And  is  not  the  supply  of  that  sort  of  forces  becoming  constantly 
more  available  through  the  various  schools  of  journalism — which 
are  springing  up  in  all  parts  of  the  country?  The  more  news- 
paper men  of  high  ideals  and  of  broad  education  and  .special 
equipment  who  are  turned  out,  the  surer  the  uplift  m  the  evolu- 
tion of  newspapers  and  of  their  conduct. 


256      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Another  marked  tendency  in  present  day  journalism  is  the 
wide-spread  effort  to  make  daihes  and  weeklies  with  a  super- 
weight  of  magazine  features  and  diversified  attachments.  No 
longer  is  the  printing  of  the  news  the  chief  concern  of  the  enter- 
prising publisher  and  of  the  alert  managing  editor.  The  supply 
of  sensational  local  news  is  apparently  not  steady  and  ample 
enough  to  hold  the  attention  of  the  feverish  reader,  whose  taste 
has  been  more  or  less  perverted,  and  so  he  must  be  entertained 
every  day,  as  well  as  Sunday,  with  all  sorts  of  stories,  features, 
comic  illustrations,  etc.  One  recent  advertisement  of  a  daily  in 
a  city  of  less  than  250,000  has  stated  that  it  was  expending  about 
$75,000  a  year  for  features.  Just  think  of  it — about  $1,500  a 
week  for  material  that  is  not  news,  probably  much  more  than  all 
of  that  paper's  news  services  and  specials  are  costing!  Now  no 
one  is  prepared  to  condemn  features  by  wholesale.  They  are 
valuable  in  attracting  certain  classes  of  readers  and  getting  home 
circulation.  Yet  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  feature  business  is 
being  overdone  by  many  papers.  They  are  thoughtlessly  educat- 
ing their  readers  away  from  an  appreciation  of  their  prime  func- 
tion of  "printing  all  the  news  that  is  fit  to  print,"  of  furnishing 
the  public  with  all  the  important  facts  of  daily  happenings,  not 
merely  of  local  occurrence,  but  of  national  movements,  scientific 
progress,  industrial  uplift,  etc.  In  this  connection,  is  to  be  com- 
mended the  recent  endowment  of  the  late  Mr.  Scripps  of  the 
Scripps-McRae  League,  of  an  institution  to  gather  scientific 
news  and  put  it  into  available  form  for  newspaper  use.  News 
of  that  sort  is  sure  to  be  far  more  useful  and  profitable  to  farm- 
ers, laborers,  manufacturers  and  merchants  than  most  of  the 
criminal  news  and  some  of  the  frivolous  diversions  termed  fea- 
tures. 

But  will  it  not  make  for  higher  journalism  and  more  at- 
tractive papers,  if  much  of  the  full  appropriations  for  features 
were  diverted  to  the  salaries  of  low  paid  desk  men  and  reporters  ? 
Would  it  not  be  a  better  trend  in  journalism  to  turn  back  to 
the  old  standards  of  The  New  York  Sun,  under  Dana,  Laffan 
and  Chester  Lord?  There  dozens  of  thoroughly  educated  men 
were  trained  into  rewriting  all  news  matter  into  clear,  terse,  com- 
pact English.  Some  of  the  force  could  take  a  busy  reporter's 
stick  story  and  expand  it  into  a  half  column  gem  of  a  human  in- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  257 

terest  story  far  more  entertaining  than  the  most  attractive  gen- 
eral feature,  because  it  was  about  facts  of  yesterday,  and  not 
fiction  of  last  month  or  last  year. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  well  to  consider  one  of  the  con- 
trasts of  British  journals  with  our  own.  Many  of  the  English 
and  Scottish  dailies  may  not  be  as  newsy,  as  enterprising,  as 
bright,  as  those  on  this  side ;  but  in  some  respects  they  are  more 
excellent.  For  the  most  part  they  are  scholarly,  well  written, 
and  quite  thorough  in  the  news  treatment  of  all  subjects  of  pub- 
lic interest.  The  greater  papers  have  large  staffs  of  men  who 
are  broadly  educated  and  who  are  ready  authorities  on  all  up- 
permost issues.  They  receive  handsome  salaries,  even  though  in 
many  cases  they  do  not  give  all  their  time  to  their  papers.  The 
consequence  is  that  all  leading  questions  are  discussed  in  the 
most  illuminating  way.  Frequently  there  are  signed  articles  by 
staff  men  giving  opposite  viewpoints.  The  reader  is  always  in- 
formed, his  mind  clarified,  his  judgment  assisted,  his  thinking 
made  more  accurate,  his  decision  more  positive.  Sometimes  the 
British  papers  may  be  charged  with  heaviness,  but  rarely  with 
superficiality  or  ignorance  or  unfairness.  And  a  strong  feature 
of  British  papers  is  their  steady  follow-up  from  day  to  day  of 
all  large  questions.  It  seems  quite  natural,  therefore,  to  dignify 
many  of  the  British  dailies  with  the  title  of  "journals."  Among 
the  papers  of  the  type  described  are  The  London  Times,  The 
London  Telegraph,  The  Manchester  Guardian,  The  Edinburgh 
Scotsman,  and  The  Glasgow  Herald. 

The  mention  of  foreign  journals  brings  up  another  recent 
development  in  our  papers  on  this  side.  The  Great  War  has 
brought  about  a  wide-spread  interest  in  foreign  news.  The 
problems  of  peace,  and  our  own  direct  interest  in  their  solution, 
has  aroused  a  tremendous  appreciation  of  new  events  in  Europe, 
China  and  Japan.  Our  papers  are  printing  columns  of  real 
cables  from  England,  France,  Germany  and  Italy.  The  Asso- 
ciated Press'  foreign  service  has  been  greatly  amplified  because 
of  this  new  interest  in  what  our  recent  allies  and  antagonists  are 
doing,  politically  and  commercially. 

Furthermore,  special  news  services  are  now  springing  up  to 
interpret  and  analyze  foreign  news  from  an  American  standpoint, 
so  that  the  average  American  reader  can  weigh  facts  intelligently. 
17 


258      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

One  of  the  best  of  these  special  interpretations  comes  from  the 
pen  of  the  foreign  news  editor  of  The  New  York  World,  Mr. 
Eugene  Young. 

Another  noticeable  development  in  American  journalism  is 
the  illustrated  daily.  The  Illustrated  News  of  New  York  has 
quickly  attained  a  circulation  of  about  half  a  million.  It  is 
surprising  that  this  development  has  not  come  before  now,  be- 
cause in  London  there  are  two  very  successful  dailies  made  up 
mainly  of  illustrations  of  news  events.  The  London  Mirror 
has  a  circulation  of  over  a  million  and  is  a  great  money  maker 
for  its  chief  owner.  Another  very  successful  English  illustrated 
daily  paper  is  The  London  Sketch.  It  may  interest  you  as  a 
piece  of  newspaper  gossip  in  New  York  to  hear  that  several  of 
the  big  dailies  in  the  metropolis  and  Boston  are  about  to  start 
tabloid  sections,  or  issues,  made  up  mainly  of  news  event  pic- 
tures. 

Another  marked  development  in  dailies  in  recent  years  has 
been  the  large  amount  of  space  given  to  sports.  This  is  com- 
mendable in  the  main,  because  it  helps  build  human  strength  and 
sanity.  But  probably  too  much  space  has  been  given  to  profes- 
sional baseball,  which  is  a  great  business  and  not  always  a  clean 
business.  There  is  no  more  justice  in  the  free  advertising  of 
the  business  of  the  baseball  magnates  than  there  would  be  in 
similar  gratuities  to  department  stores. 

In  another  respect  newspapers  have  made  great  advances — 
in  the  fullness,  promptness  and  accuracy  of  their  market  reports. 
These  help  the  farmer,  the  merchant,  the  housewife.  But  here 
again,  as  in  baseball,  there  has  been  a  sort  of  slop-over,  in  the 
extensive  reports  of  pure  stock  gambling  and  that  of  other  ex- 
changes, where  private  business,  frequently  dishonest,  has  been 
helped,  to  the  detriment  of  masses  of  unsuspecting  Iambs. 

There  is  an  outstanding  fact  in  present-day  American  journal- 
ism, which  is  to  a  large  extent  the  result  of  the  systematic  busi- 
ness development  of  newspapers.  There  are  very  few  great 
editorial  figures  nowadays.  Mr.  Henry  Watterson,  one  of  the 
greatest  editors  the  world  has  produced,  recently  said  this  in 
a  magazine  article:  "The  old  system  of  personal  journalism 
having  gone  out  and  the  new  system  of  counting-room  journalism 
having  not  quite  yet  reached  a  full  realization  of  itself,  the  ed- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  259 

itorial  function  seems  to  have  fallen  into  a  lean  and  slippered 
state.  Too  often  the  counting  room  takes  no  supervision  of  the 
editorial  room  beyond  the  immediate  selling  value  of  the  paper 
the  latter  turns  out.  Things  upstairs  are  left  at  loose  ends.  The 
personal  element  eliminated,  why  may  not  the  impersonal  head 
of  the  coming  newspaper,  proud  of  his  profession  and  satisfied 
with  the  results  of  his  ministrations,  render  yet  better  account 
to  God  and  the  people  in  unselfish  devotion  to  the  common  in- 
terest ?" 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  great  editor's  optimism  has  not  faded 
away  as  his  years  are  added,  but  that  he  has  faith  in  the  right 
evolution  of  the  newspaper  in  spite  of  the  present-day  weaknesses. 

More  despairing  is  the  utterance  of  another  writer  on  that 
phase  of  present-day  journalism.  Mr.  Bruce  Calvert  lately  wrote 
this: 

"There  aren't  many  editors  left  now  anyway.  The  editor  in 
America  belongs  to  a  fast  disappearing  species.  He  will  soon 
be  extinct.  The  day  of  the  great  editors,  men  of  personality  and 
power,  leaders  in  national  affairs,  is  actually  dead  and  gone. 
I  asked  a  well  read  man  recently  to  name  three  great  editors, 
just  3  out  of  25,000 — men  with  soul,  insight,  courage,  men  with 
the  sublime  vision  to  inspire  the  thought  of  a  great  people — 
just  three  who  could  stand  alongside  of  such  editors  and  in- 
tellectual giants  of  the  past  as  Greeley,  Dana,  Watterson,  Hal- 
stead,  McMichael,  the  older  Bennett,  Bullitt,  Medill,  Nelson, 
Story,  McCullagh,  McClure,  Piatt  and  Reid,  and  my  friend 
could  not  do  it." 

He  argued  that  commercial  corporations  were  dominating 
newspapers  and  had  dispensed  with  great  personalities  at  their 
head.  His  view  is  that  the  controlling  policy  of  such  papers  is 
not  "Is  it  right?"  but  "Will  it  pay?" 

All  of  this  is  depressing  and  discouraging.  While  there  may 
be  for  the  time  considerable  truth  in  the  allegations  that  there 
are  few  great  editors  in  the  public  eye,  it  cannot  be  denied  that 
their  souls  go  marching  on  in  the  splendid  structures  they  builded 
when  living  and  working.  And,  what  is  still  better,  I  believe 
their  spirits  yet  animate  the  majority  of  newspaper  workers, 
who  are  toiling  away  inconspicuously  in  their  great  machines  to 
make  them  living  things  and  to  make  the  world  a  better  place 
to  live  in. 


260      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

In  this  connection  you  will  be  pleased  to  know  that  Frank 
Cobb  of  The  New  York  World,  M^hom  I  have  already  quoted 
as  uttering  a  pessimistic  note  about  "hand-outs"  and  publicity 
propaganda,  holds  a  decidedly  optimistic  view  by  and  large.  He 
has  lately  said :  "I  have  never  known  a  first-class  newspaper  man 
who  would  not  print  the  news,  if  he  knew  it  was  true.  In  the 
long  run  the  newspaper  can't  be  much  better  or  worse  than  the 
community  in  which  it  circulates.  On  this  question  of  integrity 
I  believe  that  whatever  are  the  faults  of  our  newspapers,  they 
are  on  a  higher  plane  of  integrity  than  any  other  journalism  in 
the  world." 

It  so  happens  that  I  can  quote  a  less  partisan  authority  on 
that  point  than  the  New  York  editor.  In  November,  1918,  I  had 
the  honor  as  one  of  the  newspaper  guests  of  the  British  Gov- 
ernment to  sit  at  a  newspaper  dinner  in  London,  given  by  Vis- 
count Burnham  of  The  Telegraph.  I  was  seated  alongside  of 
one  of  Britain's  greatest  statesmen  and  scholars,  Hon.  Arthur 
J.  Balfour,  then  Minister  for  Foreign  Affairs.  It  was  the  night 
following  the  signing  of  the  Armistice,  and  the  subject  of  con- 
versation turned  upon  the  coming  Paris  Peace  Conference.  I 
was  asking  him  some  rather  impudent  questions,  extenuating  my 
boldness  with  the  statement  that  he  must  have  discovered  on 
his  long  visit  to  Washington  the  previous  winter  just  how  bold 
American  newspaper  men  could  be.  The  great  man,  who  is 
kindliness  personified,  showed  his  breadth  and  faith  by  this  re- 
ply :  "Yes,  I  met  many  of  them  in  Washington.  They  always 
knew  just  what  they  wanted,  and  proceeded  to  ask  for  what 
they  wanted.  I  talked  to  them  with  unusual  frankness,  not  al- 
ways for  publication,  and  I  can  truthfully  say  that  not  one  of 
them  ever  took  advantage  of  my  confidence  which  is  more  than 
I  can  say  of  some  of  their  British  colleagues  in  my  experiences 
here." 

Of  course,  these  high  testimonials  are  as  to  the  character  of 
individual  newspaper  workers,  and  not  as  to  the  quality  of  de- 
pendability of  newspapers  as  impersonal  quantities.  But  what  is 
true  of  the  mass  of  individual  newspaper  men  of  America,  as 
to  their  respect  for  truth  and  their  regard  for  confidence,  must 
be  reflected  in  the  conduct  of  the  newspapers  they  play  such  a 
large  part  in  making.     They  and  the  rising  army  of  newspaper 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  261 

men,  their  coming  colleagues  and  successors,  are  the  great  up- 
lifting force  which  must  minimize  the  trend  of  commercialism 
that  has  been  too  manifest  of  late.  They  and  you  must  play  a 
great  part  in  the  complete  restoration  of  the  free  play  of  pub- 
lic opinion,  which  can  be  possible  only  through  a  faithful  search 
for  the  whole  truth  and  its  fearless  publication. 

If  it  is  at  all  true,  as  lately  written  by  an  authority,  that 
"Every  edition  of  every  paper  is  tinctured  with  lies,  and  every 
sensible  editor  knows  it,  and  at  heart  is  sick  about  it,  and  that 
he  cannot  see  how  to  help  it,"  then  what  a  splendid  field  is  open 
to  the  coming  crop  of  reporters  and  newspaper  men  to  reform 
the  newspapers  of  the  land? 

But  no  matter  how  dark  the  picture  that  may  be  painted  by 
some  discouraged  idealists,  who  have  too  short  a  perspective,  or 
who  have  distorted  specific  short-comings  into  sweeping  gen- 
eralizations, there  are  many,  many  great  newspapers  which  are 
still  dominated  by  high  ideals  of  unselfish  devotion  to  the  public 
welfare.  It  is  a  fact  that  no  great  newspaper,  no  important 
newspaper,  even  if  not  frequently  in  the  national  eye,  was  ever 
established,  built  into  public  confidence  and  into  financial  success 
save  through  the  broad  brain  and  the  true  soul  of  some  one 
strong  man.  When  Shakespeare  wrote, 
"The  evil  that  men  do  lives  after  them 
The  good  is  oft  interred  with  their  bones." 
he  had  not  seeA  The  London  Times,  whose  great  office  now  stands 
on  the  site  of  one  of  the  playhouses  where  doubtless  those  words 
may  have  been  first  uttered.  The  great  British  editors  who  made 
it  have  established  what  Northcliffe  calls  "an  institution,"  which 
he  told  me  once  "he  dared  not  change."  Nor  had  Shakespeare 
dreamed  of  the  great  development  of  modern  journalism,  and 
the  hundreds  of  concrete  contradictions  of  his  words. 

The  great  work  of  many  an  unselfish  editor  lives  on.  He 
built  his  brain,  his  character,  in  many  cases  his  very  blood,  through 
years  of  toil  and  service,  into  the  very  fibre  of  his  newspaper, 
and  in  most  cases  the  papers  can't  outgrow  that  influence,  no 
matter  how  careless  or  thoughtless  may  be  their  latter-day  count- 
ing-house domination.  The  tradition  persists  from  year  to  year 
through  successions  of  desk  men  and  reporters,  and  like  Ban- 
quo's  ghost  "will  not  down." 


262      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Take,  for  instance,  the  spirit  and  life  work  of  that  great 
journalistic  figure.  Col.  W.  R.  Nelson  of  The  Kansas  City  Star, 
whom  all  younger  newspaper  men  respected.  The  slogan  of  his 
management,  constantly  repeated  to  his  force,  is  thus  reported: 

"Remember  this :  The  Star  has  a  greater  purpose  in  life 
than  merely  to  print  the  news.  It  believes  in  doing  things.  I 
can  employ  plenty  of  men  merely  to  write  for  the  paper.  The 
successful  reporter  is  the  one  who  knows  how  to  get  results  by 
working  to  bring  about  the  thing  he  is  trying  to  do." 

The  spirit  of  the  elder  Bennett,  one  of  the  very  first  fearless 
newsgatherers  and  publishers,  so  persisted  that  The  New  York 
Herald,  after  years  of  later  control  and  adhesion  to  old-time 
methods  had  resulted  in  a  losing  property,  has  been  sold  to 
Mr.  Munsey  for  four  million  dollars.  It  was  largely  the  elder 
Bennett's  character  and  The  Herald's  tradition  of  printing  the 
facts  that  brought  that  price. 

The  New  York  Tribune  was  made  a  great  paper  by  that 
fearless  truth  teller,  Horace  Greeley,  who  was  one  of  the  great 
moulders  of  national  opinion  and  the  chief  creator  of  the  Repub- 
lican party.  Whitelaw  Reid  was  a  worthy  later  successor,  with 
more  polish,  and  though  The  Tribune  sufifered  for  a  period  the 
lack  of  a  strong  steering  hand,  its  soul  persisted  and  latterly  the 
paper  is  reasserting  its  pristine  vigor  and  usefulness. 

The  New  York  World  was  founded  as  a  religious  daily  in 
1860,  but  was  soon  turned  into  a  secular  paper  because  of  finan- 
cial troubles.  Manton  Marble  put  his  brain  and  soul  into  it, 
though  not  a  strong  business  man.  Joseph  Pulitzer,  who  had 
demonstrated  his  journalistic  genius  at  St,  Louis,  took  hold  of 
The  World  and  in  a  few  years  in  the  fierce  struggle  of  metropol- 
itan journalism  built  into  it  his  fearlessness,  his  love  of  free- 
dom, his  devotion  to  the  public  welfare.  It  has  long  been  one 
of  the  finest  newspaper  properties  in  the  country  and  still  ad- 
heres to  his  principles  and  purposes.  Yet  he  is  reported  to 
have  said  frequently  that  he  never  spent  an  hour  in  the  busi- 
ness office.  He  reasoned  that  if  he  voiced  the  opinions  and  the 
aspirations  of  Lincoln's  "plain  people,"  the  business  office  would 
take  care  of  itself,  that  men  could  always  be  found  competent  to 
look  after  the  outgo  and  income.  Pulitzer  was  a  pugnacious 
journalist,  always  trying  to  enforce  his  views.  He  built  his 
life's  blood  into  his  paper,  and  his  spirit  persists. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  263 

The  New  York  Times  had  built  into  it  more  than  two  gen- 
erations ago  the  brain  and  soul  of  Raymond.  After  his  death 
it  accomplished  a  great  achievement  for  New  York  in  the  de- 
thronement of  the  Tweed  Ring.  Steadily,  however,  it  went  down 
in  a  business  way,  so  that  when  Adolph  Ochs,  a  comparatively 
unknown  provincial  newspaper  man,  took  hold,  its  losses  were 
several  thousand  dollars  a  week.  He  built  upon  the  foundations 
and  traditions  of  Raymond,  and  for  years  The  Times  has  been 
one  of  the  most  prosperous  journals  of  the  country,  and  in  many 
respects  the  most  complete  newspaper,  with  probably  a  wider 
diffused  national  circulation  than  any  other  daily. 

The  list  might  be  prolonged,  to  include  papers  in  Boston, 
Philadelphia,  Springfield,  Chicago,  St.  Louis,  Charleston,  Rich- 
mond, New  Orleans,  Montgomery,  Nashville,  Louisville.  Their 
names  would  be  legion,  if  all  could  be  listed  in  which  some  in- 
dividual's life,  character  and  brain,  have  been  slowly  but  surely 
and  permanently  built  into  newspapers.  That  is  the  explanation 
of  why  so  many  newspapers  have  extraordinary  vitality,  why 
some  of  them  survive  periods  of  bad  management.  It  takes 
time  to  build  character  into  a  man.  It  requires  time  and  struggle 
to  build  character  into  a  newspaper.  That  is  one  of  the  chief 
reasons  why  old  established  newspapers  so  frequently  defy  the 
onslaughts  of  younger  papers  with  more  money.  It  takes  much 
more  than  brains  and  money  to  establish  newspapers— it  requires 
character,  soul,  vision,  sacrifice.  And  the  structure  has  the 
permanency  of  the  rock  that  withstands  all  storms. 

In  summing  up  let  me  fortify  my  optimism  as  to  the  general 
healthy  trend  of  newspaperdom  by  a  summary  of  a  round-table 
discussion  at  a  dinner  given  in  February  to  Harold  B.  Johnston, 
editor  of  The  Watertown  (N.  Y.)  Times  by  that  admirable 
newspaper  man,  Mr.  Herbert  F.  Gunnison  of  The  Brooklyn 
Eagle,  one  of  the  best,  most  public  spirited  and  constructive  papers 
in  the  whole  country.  There  were  a  number  of  notable  news- 
paper figures  at  that  dinner,  and  The  Editor  and  Publisher  stated 
this  as  a  summary  of  the  ideas  developed: 

"The  daily  newspapers  of  the  country  have  not  retrograded, 
notwithstanding  the  charges  to  this  efifect  that  have  been  brought 
against  them,  but  have  made  progress  since  the  day  of  Greeley, 
Bennett,  Raymond  and  Dana.     They  do  not  mould  public  opin- 


264      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

ion  as  they  did  in  the  days  of  those  famous  journalists,  but 
rather  they  crystallize  it.  Instead  of  doing  the  thinking  of  the 
masses,  they  encourage  people  to  do  their  own  thinking  by  fur- 
nishing them  all  kinds  of  information  on  public  questions  and 
urging  them  to  form  their  own  conclusions. 

"The  editorial  page  is  of  better  average  quality.  Personal 
vituperation  between  editors  is  no  longer  indulged  in,  except  in 
rare  cases.  Bitter  partisanship  has  been  replaced  by  tolerance 
or  rather  a  desire  to  be  fair  and  just  to  those  who  belong  to 
the  opposing  party." 

It  is  probably  true  that  while  editorial  influence  has  been 
lessened  by  greater  education  of  the  masses,  who  seek  facts  and 
do  more  of  their  own  reasoning  from  the  facts,  that  the  general 
influence  of  newspapers  is  greater. 

It  must  be  admitted,  too,  that  there  has  been  too  much  at- 
tention paid  to  the  trend  of  dailies  in  the  greater  cities,  and 
too  little  to  the  bulk  of  papers  in  the  smaller  cities  and  towns. 
And  furthermore  there  are  the  thousands  of  country  weeklies 
throughout  the  land,  which  have  been  little  observed  and  con- 
sidered in  the  aggregate  study  of  newspaper  tendencies.  If  it 
is  true  that  the  average  paper  is  no  better,  no  worse,  than  the 
community  in  which  it  circulates,  should  it  not  be  admitted  that 
the  bulk  of  the  papers,  whether  daily  or  weekly,  printed  in 
the  smaller  towns,  are  of  higher  moral  tone  and  more  devoted 
to  the  public  welfare,  because  of  the  relative  purity  of  their  en- 
vironment and  their  lesser  temptation  to  go  ofif  after  false  gods 
of  sensationalism  and  interested  influence?  It  is  frequently  said 
at  Washington  that  the  average  Congressman  is  far  more  sen- 
sitive to  the  views  and  wishes  of  the  small  dailies  and  weeklies 
read  by  his  constituency  than  to  the  thunders  of  the  great  dailies 
of  his  own  State  or  of  the  greatest  cities. 

In  conclusion  allow  me  to  assure  my  auditors  of  journalistic 
experience  that  all  the  good  papers  have  not  been  in  the  past, 
that  there  is  evolution  upward  still  going  on,  and  abundant  room 
at  the  top  for  any  of  them  who  has  the  will  to  make  the  way. 
And  to  the  large  number  of  younger  men,  who  are  starting  in 
all  sorts  of  newspaper  work,  let  me  say  that  never  before  has 
there  been  so  rich  a  harvest  opening  out  for  educated  brains,  il- 
lumined  souls   and   trained   hands.     Please   remember   that   the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  265 

greatest  of  newspaper  men  began  as  printers  and  reporters,  that 
competent  reporting  is  the  very  foundation  of  successful  news- 
paper work — the  very  highest  function  of  journaHsm.  They 
should  perfect  styles  of  clear,  terse,  forceful  English.  They 
should  equip  their  minds  with  an  adequate  understanding  of 
the  psychology  of  men,  of  their  human  nature,  so  as  to  approach 
all  sorts  in  the  effective  way  to  get  the  truth,  the  essential  facts. 
Their  memory  should  be  filled  with  all  the  knowledge  possible  of 
sound  economics  and  of  history.  And,  above  all,  all  of  us  should 
sweeten  our  souls  with  faith  in  the  progress  of  all  things,  and 
train  our  spirits  into  the  habit  of  vision.  Thus  you  will  make 
of  yourselves  powers  in  your  lands  to  neutralize  all  low  ten- 
dencies in  journalism  and  to  preserve,  strengthen  and  mature 
all  the  good  work  which  has  been  started  by  the  giants  of  the 
past.  Then  we  will  serve  our  time,  our  countries,  as  well  as 
bring  happiness,  success  and  honor  to  ourselves.  (Loud  applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  You  have  heard  the  strong  and  thought- 
ful address  by  Mr.  Glass.  It  is  now  our  privilege  to  hear  from 
another  representative  of  the  United  States,  a  dweller  in  Hono- 
lulu, who  has  done  distinguished  public  service  in  other  fields 
of  action  as  well  as  in  journalism.  Colonel  Riley  H.  Allen,  of  the  ^ 

Star-Bulletin. 


COLONEL  ALLEN :  Those  of  you  who  were  not  here  at 
the  opening  of  this  session  missed  to  my  mind  one  of  the  finest 
things  I  have  heard  said,  when  the  Chairman  asked  speakers 
today  to  cut  out  all  unnecessary  details  from  their  speeches.  That 
to  me  was  a  real  privilege  because  the  first  day  I  came  out  here 
I  heard  a  comparatively  long  paper  by  Mr.  Tong  covering  most 
of  what  I  have  to  say.  I  came  out  yesterday  afternoon  to  hear 
Mr.  McClatchy  on  "Communications"  and  that  enabled  me  to 
cut  about  half  of  the  remainder  of  my  paper  out  after  hearing 
his  talk.  After  hearing  Mr.  Glass  this  morning  and  Mr.  Brown 
I  will  touch  only  on  some  of  the  high  points,  and  make  my  talk 
rather  short. 

Mr.  Chairman,  Delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World, 
Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Hawaii  has  an  interest  in  a  real  free- 
dom of  the  press  as  keen  as  that  of  any  other  part  of  the  world ; 


266      The  Press  Cu  ngress  of  the  TForld 

keener  than  most.  We  consider  here  that  freedom  of  the  press — 
and  by  that  I  mean  especially  freedom  of  news  communication 
and  editorial  comment  upon  subjects  of  international  importance — 
is  an  imperative  condition  for  our  existence  as  a  self-govern- 
ing community. 

Because  we  are  set  squarely  in  the  midst  of  an  ocean  which 
admittedly  is  disturbed  by  competing  cultures  and  ambitions  on 
its  two  great  shores,  our  social  and  industrial  serenity  depend 
upon  accurate  knowledge  of  these  disquieting  elements  more 
than  upon  any  other  one  factor. 

Because  in  this  archipelago  two  civilizations  and  parts  of 
several  others  have  met  and  are  in  hourly  close  contact,  it  is 
essential  that  we  should  have  ample  information  as  to  the  events 
and  probable  future  of  the  civilizations  in  the  countries  of  their 
birth. 

In  instancing  Hawaii,  I  do  not  wish  to  be  understood  as 
assuming  that  these  islands  should  set  pattern  for  the  rest  of 
the  world.  We  are  a  very  small  part  of  the  great  community 
of  nations ;  industrially  the  territory  is  still  immature ;  and  its 
newspapers  do  not  pretend  to  compare  with  the  great  journals 
of  the  several  continents.  It  would  ill  become  a  newspaperman 
of  this  little  mid-Pacific  community  to  advise  the  rest  of  the 
world  what  to  do.  However,  as  I  have  listened  to  various  papers 
and  addresses  presented  at  this  Congress,  I  have  felt  more  and 
more  that  in  Hawaii  we  have  a  crystallization  of  many  interna- 
tional problems  which  loom  only  vaguely  on  the  world-horizon ; 
that  we  have  here,  in  a  small  but  concrete  and  easily  visualized 
form,  that  same  impact  of  cultures  and  customs  which  is  felt 
throughout  the  world  today. 

In  Hawaii,  the  physical  facts  of  this  crystallization  and  im- 
pact are  under  our  eyes  daily;  in  the  world  at  large,  they  are 
seen  only  as  sinister  clouds,  disturbing  to  thoughtful  men  and 
women,  but,  even  if  felt  by  the  great  mass  of  people,  not  under- 
stood. 

We  here  see  almost  immediately  in  the  reaction  of  our  cit- 
izens or  alien  residents  the  results  of  frictions  between  nations. 
And,  as  the  ways  of  world-communication  are  becoming  more 
and  more  expeditious  and  ample,  news  of  international  misunder- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  267 

standing  will  be  borne  more  and  more  quickly  to  the  various 
nationals  resident  here. 

We  who  live  here,  like  to  call  Hawaii  the  "Paradise  of  the 
Pacific."  But  without  sufficient  freedom  of  the  press  to  keep 
us  closely  informed  on  world-affairs,  we  would  be  living  in  a 
fool's  paradise. 

When  I  say  that  a  free  press  is  an  imperative  condition  of  our 
existence,  I  mean  exactly  that.  This  ocean  may  be  either  as 
serene  with  peace  as  a  smiling  summer  sky,  or  as  stormy  with 
war  as  a  typhoon  off  the  China  coast.  Without  a  press  which 
can  keep  us  informed,  and  rightly  informed,  on  events  which 
may  mean  peace  or  war  for  our  respective  nations,  we  in  Hawaii 
would  be  as  helpless  as  chips  in  a  whirlpool. 

Few  of  you  gentlemen  live  in  communities  which  stand  to 
lose  as  Hawaii  stands  to  lose  if  war  should  come  on  the  Pacific. 
For  some  of  you,  such  a  war  would  come  no  closer  home  than 
the  war  in  Europe  came  to  the  man  in  Iowa  or  Utah  or  Oregon. 
For  us,  it  might  come  with  the  shattering,  roaring,  bloody  trag- 
edy that  visited  France,  Belgium  and  Italy. 

So,  if  I  talk  from  the  standpoint  of  a  newspaperman  of 
Hawaii,  it  is  not  to  attempt  to  advise  you,  who  are  from  much 
more  important  newspaper  centers,  but  to  give  you  the  view- 
point of  one  man  in  a  community  which  he  considers  to  embody 
in  minature  certain  international  conditions  affecting  the  news- 
papers of  the  world. 

How  far  is  freedom  of  the  press  desirable  and  how  may  it  be 
safeguarded? 

To  the  first  part  of  that  question,  which  is  the  subject  for 
today,  an  American  newspaperman  has  but  one  answer.  Free- 
dom of  the  press  is  desirable  to  its  peace-time  limits.  Those 
limits  are  set  for  us  by  libel  laws  and  by  constitutional  provisions 
occasionally  added  to  by  federal  or  state  enactment.  Our  con- 
stitution guarantees  freedom  of  the  press,  and  when  I  say  that 
freedom  of  the  press  is  desirable  to  its  peace-time  limits,  I  mean 
that  those  extraordinary  restrictions  recognized  as  necessary, 
even  if  disagreeable,  in  war-time  have  no  place  whatever  in 
normal  periods ;  that  censorship  in  peace-time  is  both  uncon- 
stitutional and  intolerable ;  that  it  is  to  the  interests  of  the  gov- 
ernment as  well  as  of  the  people  to  encourage  free  and  informed 
newspaper  exchange  of  fact  and  opinion. 


268      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

To  me  there  can  be  no  two  sides  to  the  question  of  desirability 
of  freedom  of  the  press,  and  therefore  I  have  no  extended  dis- 
cussion to  make  of  it. 

How  may  freedom  of  the  press  be  safeguarded? 

Only  one  phase  of  this  rather  broad  subject  can  be  taken 
up  in  this  paper — that  of  making  a  clear  distinction  in  newspaper 
columns  between  what  is  news  or  what  is  editorial  comment, 
and  what  is  propaganda. 

A  delegate  said  yesterday  that  he  wished  the  word  propaganda 
could  be  decently  interred.  So  do  we  all,  but  it  can't.  The 
Great  War,  in  fact,  immensely  widened  the  scope  which  prop- 
aganda could  take.  It  taught  governments  and  ministries  new 
lessons  in  influencing  the  peoples.  If  it  had  its  tremendous 
benefits,  in  the  quick  results  of  organized  campaigns  to  sell  bonds, 
recruit  soldiers  and  raise  relief  funds,  it  had  its  evils  in  de- 
veloping the  business  of  controlling  and  directing  public  opin- 
ion to  a  scale  and  efificiency  hitherto  undreamed  of ;  and  now, 
instead  of  letting  propaganda  get  the  best  of  us,  w^e  must  get 
the  best  of  it,  by  keeping  it  within  proper  bounds  and  making 
it  do  its  proper  work. 

Propaganda  which  threatens  the  freedom  of  the  press  by  at- 
tempting to  use  the  press  as  a  cloak  for  ulterior  motives  and 
subterranean  actions  is  of  two  sorts — ^that  emanating  from  private 
businesses  and  that  emanating  from  governments. 

Both  take  a  great  variety  of  forms ;  both  deal  with  many 
matters  of  purely  domestic  concerns,  and  these  I  shall  not  dis- 
cuss. Our  special  interest  in  this  Congress  is  as  to  those  which 
are  apt  to  lead  to  international  frictions. 

Now  as  to  the  private  business  propaganda  which  may  lead 
to  international  trouble,  it  is  plain  that  its  weight  is  lessening. 
We  used  to  hear  a  good  deal  of  the  pernicious  influence  of  muni- 
tion-makers, professional  warriors,  and  international  bankets 
who  looked  on  war  as  a  good  thing.  The  recent  great  conflict 
gave  these  gentry  the  coup-de-gracc.  The  world  has  been  dis- 
illusioned on  war.  Not  so  many  years  ago  in  our  own  country, 
a  war  was  considered  good  business  by  many  large  newspaper- 
publishers.  The  Spanish-American  war  taught  most  of  them 
differently;  and  the  World  War  finished  the  course  of  lessons 
for  everybody  else. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  269 

No  gain  in  circulation,  or  in  the  prestige  arising  from  carry- 
ing news  of  the  most  intense  interest  and  importance,  compen- 
sates, in  the  long  run,  for  the  business  depression  (not  to  speak 
of  the  human  cost)  following  such  a  war  as  the  world  has  just 
gone  through.  Never  again  will  thinking  newspapermen  con- 
sider that  war  is  good  business  for  their  profession — for  news- 
paper and  magazine  making  and  selling.  And,  such  being  the 
case,  the  professional  war-maker  will  hereafter  get  scant  en- 
couragement from  newspaper  publishers. 

In  public  or  government  propaganda  the  freedom  of  the  press 
has  still  an  ancient  and  powerful  enemy. 

It  is  all  the  more  dangerous  because  sometimes  it  comes  to 
the  newspaper  disguised  under  the  cloak  of  patriotism. 

Some  governments  have  done  far  more  than  others  in  con- 
trolling the  press  for  their  own  purposes — those  purposes  being 
to  further  imperial  ambition,  no  matter  how  certain  this  am- 
bition was  later  on  to  run  the  people  into  a  head-on  collision  with 
other  peoples. 

Is  it  not  significant  that  our  greatest,  most  vivid,  most  tragic 
example  of  a  nation  which  wrecked  itself  in  a  headlong  dash 
for  world-supremacy  is  also  our  greatest  example  of  a  govern- 
ment which  used  its  press  to  control  and  direct  and  mould  the 
minds  of  its  people  to  its  own  ends?  Is  it  not  significant  that  it 
is  precisely  those  people  who  for  more  than  a  generation  had 
been  pap-fed  on  propaganda  instead  of  news  who  followed  blind- 
ly a  fatal  and  suicidal  international  course? 

The  public  is  too  often  fed  with  "inspired  statements."  We 
too  often  read  windy  and  unimportant  views  sent  out  by  some- 
one "on  high  authority."  Sometimes  the  observations  thus  pur- 
veyed to  a  yawning  and  uninterested  world  are  good,  sometimes 
tiresome;  sometimes  true,  sometimes  untrue. 

To  distinguish  between  government  matter  which  should  be 
published  as  a  patriotic  duty  (aside  from  its  news  interest)  and 
matter  which  should  not  be  published  because  it  isn't  news,  tests 
the  newspaperman's  alert  professional  ability  as  well  as  his 
courage. 

I  cannot  offer  any  panacea  to  prevent  absolutely  the  debasing 
of  a  free  press  by  government  propaganda.  Education,  the  rise 
of  general  public  interest  in  government  affairs,  the  demand  that 


270      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  source  of  news  as  well  as  the  news  itself  be  open  to  the 
public  eye ;  a  constant  fight  for  the  right  of  the  press  to  free 
speech  within  the  bounds  of  decency — these  will  help  to  enlist 
the  reader  on  the  side  of  the  newspaper. 

No  hard-and-fast  rules  can  be  given  to  the  editor  or  pub- 
lisher on  what  government  matter  is  of  sufficient  general  in- 
terest to  be  run  as  news,  and  what  is  not.  Such  distinction  de- 
pends on  the  merits  of  each  case,  and  on  locality  and  reader- 
character  of  the  paper,  dearth  or  amplitude  of  other  news,  and 
many  othei   factors. 

What  I  want  to  emphasize  is  that  to  continue  and  develop 
true  freedom  of  the  press,  newspapers  and  magazines  all  over 
the  world  should  adopt  and  adhere  to  the  principle  that  govern- 
ment propaganda,  like  any  other  propaganda,  which  is  of  little 
or  no  straight  news  interest,  should  be  carried  as  paid  adver- 
tising at  card  rates.   (Applause.) 

More  than  this — that  governments  should  recognize  that  great- 
er power  and  efifectiveness  which  modern  advertising,  with  its 
distinctive  typography  and  its  hammering  repetition,  can  give 
their  messages,  even  when  these  are  also  carried  in  the  news 
columns. 

Paid  advertising — the  kind  which  is  carried  in  the  display  col- 
umns or  plainly  marked  with  the  word  "advertisement" ;  the 
kind  which  tells  the  reader  who  inserts  the  matter  and  who  is 
paying  for  its  insertion  ought  to  be  insisted  on  for  government 
propaganda  just  as  for  the  promotion  of  a  private  commercial 
interest. 

I  do  not  mean  to  say  that  government  announcements,  gov- 
ernment doings,  government  plans,  are  not  news.  Much  of  this 
matter  is  good  news,  affecting  thousands,  hundreds  of  thou- 
sands of  readers  of  our  papers,  and  therefore  eagerly  read  by 
them.  But  the  point  I  want  to  emphasize  is  that  governments 
should  realize  the  value  of  paid  advertising  to  explain  to  the 
people  the  merits  of  their  plans  and  actions ;  and,  to  use  Ameri- 
can idiom,  it's  up  to  the  newspapers  to  drive  this  point  home 
to  the  governments. 

During  the  war,  under  the  terrific  necessity  of  getting  great 
things  done  in  a  hurry,  the  governments  used  paid  advertising 
on  a  liberal  scale.    War-bonds,  recruiting-campaigns  and  the  like 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  271 

were  widely  advertised.  The  results  proved  conclusively  that 
when  the  government  has  a  big  message  to  get  across,  the  way 
to  do  it  is  both  through  the  news  columns  and  through  the  ad- 
vertising columns. 

That  lesson  shouldn't  be  forgotten  in  peace. 

If  governments  and  government  bureaus  will  put  their  peace- 
time messages  in  the  form  of  paid  advertising,  over  the  signa- 
tures of  these  bureaus  or  responsible  officers,  they  will  reap  in- 
stant benefit  in  the  interest  and  understanding  of  their  readers. 

We  are  moving  and  talking  today  in  an  atmosphere  of  peace- 
desire.  This  very  Congress  illustrates  how  inevitably  nearly 
all  public  discussion  touches  on  the  need  for  peace.  Our  hag- 
gard countries  are  yearning  for  a  day  free  from  the  torments 
and  anxieties  that  go  with  thoughts  and  signs  of  war. 

I  submit  that  one  effective  way  to  bring  about  that  better 
understanding  concerning  which  there  is  so  much  general,  nebu- 
lous talk,  is  through  this  very  method  of  advertising  by  nations. 

Most  of  us  know  that  diplomats  and  official  missions  are 
going  about  in  many  capitals  of  the  world  talking  peace.  But 
a  great  deal  of  their  talk  misses  the  mark.  It  isn't  read,  or  if 
read,  it  loses  force  from  lack  of  proper  display  and  repetition. 
It  isn't  direct;  it  isn't  put  in  the  language  of  the  people,  one 
and  two  syllable  words.  The  man  who  talks  war  gets  more 
attention  than  the  man  who  talks  peace.  Yet  in  the  long  run 
peace-talk  is  the  more  valuable  of  the  two  lines  of  conversation, 
and  ought  to  be  more  emphasized. 

Most  of  the  world  has  reached  the  point  of  education  in 
advertising  where  it  is  perfectly  possible  for  governments  to 
use  this  tremendous  modern  publicity  force  to  further  the  cause 
of  world  peace. 

I  sincerely  believe  that  if  the  governments  to  be  represented 
at  the  Limitation  of  Armaments  Conference  were  to  join  a  few 
days  before  the  Conference,  in  a  series  of  full-page  advertise- 
ments to  be  published  in  daily  papers  and  magazines  in  every 
country  of  the  world,  setting  forth  the  high  purpose  and  friend- 
ly desire  which  animates  this  conference,  the  result  would  be 
worth  more  for  future  peace  than  any  dreadnought — and  it  could 
be  done  for  less  than  a  tenth  of  the  cost  of  a  dreadnought. 

I    sincerely   believe   that   a   year's    advertising   campaign    for 


272      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

peace,  conducted  by  the  governments  of  the  world,  would  be 
more  effective  than  a  line  of  forts  or  a  division  of  infantry  or 
a  fleet  of  battle  cruisers.     And  it  would  cost  far  less. 

Now  I  am  not  so  visionary  as  to  believe  this  is  immediately 
possible.  In  some  countries  it  may  be  decades  before  advertising 
is  as  far  advanced  as  in  the  United  States  or  the  British  king- 
dom. But  we  can  measurably  hasten  the  day  of  world-wide  use 
of  advertising  by  governments  for  perfectly  legitimate  ends. 
We  can  hasten  it  by  emphasizing  daily  and  nightly  that  our  news 
columns  be  kept  free  of  propaganda — that  if  propaganda  is  pub- 
lished, it  be  in  the  advertising  columns  where  readers  may  know 
exactly  what  it  is.     Let  it  not  be  disguised  as  news  or  editorial. 

Each  in  our  own  community,  we  can  work  for,  struggle  for, 
fight  for  this  principle.  We  may  not  always  succeed,  but  we  can 
always  make  progress.  If  the  Great  War  had  its  evils  in  de- 
veloping cleverly  disguised  propaganda,  it  also  inmiensely 
broadened  the  advertising  field,  and  definitely  committed  some 
governments  to  paid  advertising  as  one  method  for  uniting  their 
peoples  and  thus  helping  to  win. 

I  can  assure  you  that  nowhere  in  the  world  will  the  efforts 
of  newspapers  to  preserve  freedom  of  the  press,  and  to  make 
both  their  news  and  advertising  columns  effective  media  for 
friendship  and  peace,  be  more  closely  or  anxiously  watched  than 
in  Hawaii.  (Applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  After  hearing  what  Colonel  Allen  has 
so  well  said  you  may  understand  why  what  he  writes  and  what 
he  speaks  is  always  listened  to  with  attention  and  profit.  We, 
who  are  delegates  to  the  Press  Congress,  may  add  that  what 
he  does  for  us  is  also  to  our  pleasure  and  profit. 

We  will  have  the  pleasure  of  hearing  as  our  next  speaker 
Mrs.  Georgina  Townsend,  of  Los  Angeles,  representing  the 
Southern  California  Women's  Press  Association. 

MRS.  TOWNSEND:  Mr.  President  and  Delegates:  To  the 
Press  Congress  of  the  World  I  bring  greetings  from  the  South- 
ern California  Woman's  Press  Club  of  Los  Angeles,  of  which 
I  have  the  honor  to  be  president,  and  a  member  of  twenty-one 
years'  standing. 

My  club  was  organized  twenty-eight  years  ago  by  a  small 


MK 


ON 

G 


MliEKS  OF  TllK  Al  SIKAI.IAX  0KL1':(;ATI()N,  W  I  I  H  (i(  )\  KlLXOl!  FARRING- 
TON    (upper,  left  to  right). 

UY  INNER  Meluour.nk:  ANDREW  DUNN,  Rockhamptox,  Queensland; 
GOVERNOR  WALLACE  R.  FARRINGTON;  JOHN  HENRY  KE8SELL,  Glad- 
stone, Queensland;    HERBERT  ARTHUR  DAVIES,  Meluoukne. 

THE  REVIEWING  STAND  AT  lOLANI  PALACE   (lower,  left  to  right). 
OVERNOR  FARRINGTON;    REAR  ADMIRAL  EDWARD  SIMPSON,  U.  S.  N.; 
MAJOR-GENERAL  CHAS.  P.  SUMMERALL,  U.  S.  A.;    PRESIDENT  WALTER 
WILLIAMS. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  273 

group  of  women  doing  journalistic  work.  It  was  at  a  time  when 
women's  clubs  were  laughed  at,  but  like  other  pioneers  it  out- 
lived scorn  and  scoffing,  and  stands  today  as  the  most  distin- 
guished woman's  club  in  the  state  of  California,  a  state  having 
more  than  fifty  thousand  club  women  federated. 

As  my  club's  representative  I  bring  the  message  that  we  are 
one  and  all,  once  and  always  for  peace,  and  then  more  peace 
even  if  we  have  to  fight  for  it.  As  newspaper  women  and 
writers  we  know  the  tremendous  influence  a  free,  untrammeled 
press  would  exert  upon  the  efforts  of  men  and  women  to  bring 
peace  and  harmony  and  prosperity  to  the  peoples  of  the  world. 

We  are  looking  for  splendid  results  from  this  Congress,  which 
has  sounded  two  deep  notes  dear  to  women's  hearts,  peace  and 
a  free  press.  To  each  and  every  one  of  our  members,  be  we  news- 
paper women,  writers  of  fiction,  makers  of  text  books,  or  com- 
posers of  music,  has  come  the  restriction  upon  our  creative  work 
which  a  press  controlled  wholly  by  financial  considerations  im- 
poses upon  such  effort.  If  for  no  other  reason  than  this,  we 
would  be  opposed  to  big  business  control  of  publications.  But 
we  are  as  women  opposed  to  the  present  conditions  under  which 
newspapers  are  conducted.  We  are  soul-sick  of  scintillating 
editorials  which  attract  the  attention  of  the  careless,  unthinking 
reader,  and  mould  his  opinions,  yet  which  contain  day  after  day, 
a  tiny  drop  of  poison  that  works  insidiously  to  lower  standards, 
to  create  hatred,  unrest  and  dissatisfaction,  and  to  pollute  the 
mind  of  the  public.  We  are  soul-sick  of  the  exploitation  of 
crime,  of  screaming  headlines,  of  lurid  sensation.  We  are  soul- 
sick  of  mawkish  sentimentality,  of  sob  sister  stuff,  of  disgusting 
details  of  debaucheries,  of  minute  particulars  in  sickening  mur- 
der trials,  divorce  scandals,  and  horrible  deaths.  We  are  soul- 
sick  of  extravagant  statements  of  the  beauty  and  genius  of 
second  and  third-rate  moving  picture  people,  statements  which 
we  know  are  paid  advertisements  run  in  the  news  columns,  and 
which  deceive  no  one  except  the  foolish  young  girls  with  am- 
bitions to  become  beautiful  and  famous.  And  we  mothers  are 
soul-sick  of  the  comic  section  and  the  low  standard  it  sets  in  a 
child's  mind  in  regard  to  fun,  play,  obedience  and  obligation. 

But  most  of  all  we  are  sick  unto  death  of  propaganda,  and 
what  is  more,  you  men  are  also. 

18 


274      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Yet  we  read  the  papers  and  the  magazines.  But  we  read 
them  with  resentment,  indignation  and  contempt,  and  only  be- 
cause we  have  nothing  else  to  read.  Yet  our  intelligence  is 
insulted  by  being  told  that  publishers  are  giving  the  public 
what  it  wants.  They  are  not  giving  the  women  what  they 
want,  and  yet  it  is  the  women  who  support  the  papers.  A 
broad  statement  you  may  say.  But  if  the  financial  success  of  a 
publication  depends  upon  its  advertisements,  as  it  admittedly 
does,  and  at  least  ninety  per  cent  of  all  advertising  is  addressed 
to  women,  who  are  the  buyers  of  necessities  and  luxuries,  then 
the  success  of  a  publication  depends  upon  its  women  readers  who 
patronize  the  advertisers,  who  are  the  financial  backers  of  the 
newspaper  industry. 

And  because  women  are  the  buyers  of  ninety  per  cent  of  all 
necessities  and  luxuries,  and  because  it  is  to  this  buying  element 
that  advertisers  look  for  patronage,  why  is  it  not  good  business 
policy  upon  the  part  of  publishers  and  editors,  to  give  women 
what  they  want,  a  free,  uncorrupted  press?  And  the  courageous 
publisher  or  editor  who  gives  women  what  they  want,  is  giving 
the  public  what  it  wants,  which  is  legitimate  news  well  pre- 
sented, editorials  which  build  up  standards  and  ideals  instead 
of  dragging  them  down,  and  all  that  produces  harmony,  good 
will,  understanding,  tolerance,  charity  and  peace,  for  these  are 
the  foundation  stones  of  prosperity,  and  that  is  what  the  whole 
world  needs.  The  newspaper  which  is  fearless  of  the  eflfect  of 
truth  upon  its  advertisers  will  have  the  women  back  of  it,  and 
such  a  newspaper  will  be  in  a  position  to  dictate  to  its  advertisers 
instead  of  being  dictated  to  by  them.  If  you  doubt  the  truth 
of  this  statement,  think  back  some  thirty  years  to  the  time  when 
the  Ladies  Home  Journal  attacked  the  patent  medicine  business, 
a  business  seemingly  impregnable ;  to  attack  such  business  ap- 
parently meant  ruin  to  any  publication  undertaking  to  expose 
the  gigantic  fake  which  was  fattening  off  the  credulity  of  the 
public,  and  it  was  freely  predicted  that  the  Ladies  Home  Journal 
would  never  survive  but  would  be  crushed  by  the  pressure  which 
the  immense  patent  medicine  business  would  bring  to  bear  upon 
it.  And  such  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  and  the  magazine 
suffered  severe  loss,  but  because  it  was  telling  the  truth  by  ex- 
posing a   harmful   and   dishonest   line   of   business,   it   had   the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  275 

women  with  it.     And  with  the  women  back  of  it,  the  magazine 
lived,  and  the  patent  medicine  business  industry  died. 

Therefore  it  seems  to  me  that  the  problem  of  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  press  might  be  solved  by  the  application  of  this  bit 
of  psychology,  simple  enough  to  state  to  be  sure,  but  not  so  simple 
to  carry  out,  for  it  takes  courage  and  fearlessness.  But  our 
journalists  have  both  courage  and  fearlessness,  and  upon  these 
splendid  attributes  we  women  are  depending  for  the  purity  of 
the  press  and  the  future  welfare  of  our  nation.  (Applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  Mrs.  Townsend  has  set  a  good  example 
to  the  speakers  on  this  program,  not  only  in  the  thought  she 
presents  but  in  the  time  she  took  to  express  her  thoughts.  If 
she  would  have  added  a  postscript  in  which  she  would  have 
told  exactly  what  all  women  want  in  the  newspapers,  she  could 
be  employed  on  any  newspaper  in  the  world  at  any  time. 

We  next  have  the  privilege  of  re-adjusting  the  program 
slightly  in  order  to  hear  a  delegate  from  Canada,  the  managing 
editor  of  La  Presse  at  Montreal.  The  French  Canadian  has 
done  great  service  in  Canada,  and  we  in  the  Mississippi  Valley 
and  all  editors  are  glad  to  meet  him  South  of  the  imaginary  line 
which  separates  the  Dominion  from  the  Republic. 

I  have  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  now  Mr.  Oswald  May- 
rand,  managing  editor  of  La  Presse  of  Montreal. 

MR.  MAYRAND:  On  behalf  of  the  Canadian  Press,  which 
I  have  the  honor  to  represent  here,  it  is  my  privilege  to  con- 
gratulate the  organizers  of  this  congress  for  the  magnificent 
success  they  are  achieving. 

Conventions  of  this  kind  bring  soldiers  of  the  pen  together, 
make  them  know,  understand  and  appreciate  each  other ;  they 
put  in  common  the  fruits  of  the  most  experienced  among  them 
and  the  whole  human  community,  of  whom  journalists  are  the 
best  natured  servants,  get  the  ultimate  benefit. 

Having  been  asked  to  present  a  lecture  on  any  journalistic 
subject,  I  thought  you  might  be  interested  to  hear  something  of 
the  Canadian  press  and  especially  something  of  the  French- 
Canadian  press  history. 

The  press  of  a  country  reflects  the  ideals  of  such  country. 
French-Canadians  are   peaceful   people   living   in   harmony   with 


274       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Yet  we  read  the  papers  and  the  magazines.  But  we  read 
them  with  resentment,  indignation  and  contempt,  and  only  be- 
cause we  have  nothing  else  to  read.  Yet  our  intelligence  is 
insulted  by  being  told  that  publishers  are  giving  the  public 
what  it  wants.  They  are  not  giving  the  women  what  they 
want,  and  yet  it  is  the  women  who  support  the  papers.  A 
broad  statement  you  may  say.  But  if  the  financial  success  of  a 
publication  depends  upon  its  advertisements,  as  it  admittedly 
does,  and  at  least  ninety  per  cent  of  all  advertising  is  addressed 
to  women,  who  are  the  buyers  of  necessities  and  luxuries,  then 
the  success  of  a  publication  depends  upon  its  women  readers  who 
patronize  the  advertisers,  who  are  the  financial  backers  of  the 
newspaper  industry. 

And  because  women  are  the  buyers  of  ninety  per  cent  of  all 
necessities  and  luxuries,  and  because  it  is  to  this  buying  element 
that  advertisers  look  for  patronage,  why  is  it  not  good  business 
policy  upon  the  part  of  publishers  and  editors,  to  give  women 
what  they  want,  a  free,  uncorrupted  press  ?  And  the  courageous 
publisher  or  editor  who  gives  women  what  they  want,  is  giving 
the  public  what  it  wants,  which  is  legitimate  news  well  pre- 
sented, editorials  which  build  up  standards  and  ideals  instead 
of  dragging  them  down,  and  all  that  produces  harmony,  good 
will,  understanding,  tolerance,  charity  and  peace,  for  these  are 
the  foundation  stones  of  prosperity,  and  that  is  what  the  whole 
world  needs.  The  newspaper  which  is  fearless  of  the  effect  of 
truth  upon  its  advertisers  will  have  the  women  back  of  it,  and 
such  a  newspaper  will  be  in  a  position  to  dictate  to  its  advertisers 
instead  of  being  dictated  to  by  them.  If  you  doubt  the  truth 
of  this  statement,  think  back  some  thirty  years  to  the  time  when 
the  Ladies  Home  Journal  attacked  the  patent  medicine  business, 
a  business  seemingly  impregnable ;  to  attack  such  business  ap- 
parently meant  ruin  to  any  publication  undertaking  to  expose 
the  gigantic  fake  which  was  fattening  off  the  credulity  of  the 
public,  and  it  was  freely  predicted  that  the  Ladies  Home  Journal 
would  never  survive  but  would  be  crushed  by  the  pressure  which 
the  immense  patent  medicine  business  would  bring  to  bear  upon 
it.  And  such  pressure  was  brought  to  bear  and  the  magazine 
suffered  severe  loss,  but  because  it  was  telling  the  truth  by  ex- 
posing a   harmful   and   dishonest   line  of   business,   it   had   the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  275 

women  with  it.     And  with  the  women  back  of  it,  the  magazine 
Hved,  and  the  patent  medicine  business  industry  died. 

Therefore  it  seems  to  me  that  the  problem  of  the  present  con- 
dition of  the  press  might  be  solved  by  the  application  of  this  bit 
of  psychology,  simple  enough  to  state  to  be  sure,  but  not  so  simple 
to  carry  out,  for  it  takes  courage  and  fearlessness.  But  our 
journalists  have  both  courage  and  fearlessness,  and  upon  these 
splendid  attributes  we  women  are  depending  for  the  purity  of 
the  press  and  the  future  welfare  of  our  nation.  (Applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  Mrs.  Townsend  has  set  a  good  example 
to  the  speakers  on  this  program,  not  only  in  the  thought  she 
presents  but  in  the  time  she  took  to  express  her  thoughts.  If 
she  would  have  added  a  postscript  in  which  she  would  have 
told  exactly  what  all  women  want  in  the  newspapers,  she  could 
be  employed  on  any  newspaper  in  the  world  at  any  time. 

We  next  have  the  privilege  of  re-adjusting  the  program 
slightly  in  order  to  hear  a  delegate  from  Canada,  the  managing 
editor  of  La  Presse  at  Montreal.  The  French  Canadian  has 
done  great  service  in  Canada,  and  we  in  the  Mississippi  Valley 
and  all  editors  are  glad  to  meet  him  South  of  the  imaginary  line 
which  separates  the  Dominion  from  the  Republic. 

I  have  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  now  Mr.  Oswald  May- 
rand,  managing  editor  of  La  Presse  of  Montreal. 

MR.  MAYRAND:  On  behalf  of  the  Canadian  Press,  which 
I  have  the  honor  to  represent  here,  it  is  my  privilege  to  con- 
gratulate the  organizers  of  this  congress  for  the  magnificent 
success  they  are  achieving. 

Conventions  of  this  kind  bring  soldiers  of  the  pen  together, 
make  them  know,  understand  and  appreciate  each  other ;  they 
put  in  common  the  fruits  of  the  most  experienced  among  them 
and  the  whole  human  community,  of  whom  journalists  are  the 
best  natured  servants,  get  the  ultimate  benefit. 

Having  been  asked  to  present  a  lecture  on  any  journalistic 
subject,  I  thought  you  might  be  interested  to  hear  something  of 
the  Canadian  press  and  especially  something  of  the  French- 
Canadian  press  history. 

The  press  of  a  country  reflects  the  ideals  of  such  country. 
French-Canadians  are   peaceful   people   living   in   harmony   with 


276      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

all  ethnical  groups  which  surround  them.  Canada  at  large  is 
often  looked  upon  as  a  lively  hyphen  between  the  several  great 
races  of  this  continent  and  even  of  the  whole  world.  There  can 
not  be  a  higher  purpose  to  achieve.  Our  people's  motto  is  "J^ 
me  souviens"  (I  remember)  and  should  not  this  be  one  of  the 
ideals  of  the  universal  press?  Above  the  legitimate  interests  of 
each  country,  pressmen,  let  us  remember  and  serve  the  interests 
of  humanity,  our  common  mother. 

In  1752  appeared  the  first  journal  published  within  the  actual 
limits  of  Canada.  It  was  at  Halifax  and  its  editor  was  named 
Bushell.  That  man  was  therefore  first  to  take  out  of  the  bushel 
the  Canadian  journalistic  light  and  also  first  to  fire  a  newspaper 
shell  in  the  land  which  was  to  be  the  future  peaceful  Dominion 
of  Canada.  Suspended  a  few  years  after  its  first  publication, 
that  paper,  which  was  rather  an  official  gazette,  reappeared  later 
and  is  still  living  under  the  name  of  Nova  Scotia  Official  Ga- 
zette. 

Twelve  years  after  on  June  21,  1764,  appeared  in  Canada  as 
it  was  then  formed  the  first  journal.  La  Gazette  de  Quebec, 
which  was  published  by  Brown  and  Gilmour,  two  printers  who 
had  come  from  Philadelphia.  It  was  printed  at  first  half  in 
French,  half  in  English ;  then,  for  many  years,  alternately  in 
English  and  in  French,  and  from  1842  in  English  only.  After 
the  death  of  Gilmour  and,  later,  of  Brown,  the  Quebec  Gazette 
became  the  property  of  the  latter's  nephew,  named  Neilson,  and 
for  more  than  half  a  century,  it  belonged  to  the  Neilson  family. 
At  first,  that  paper  contained  foreign  news  rather  than  local 
news  and  it  soon  became  an  official  gazette  in  which  were  pub- 
lished ordinances  and  laws.  During  about  fifteen  years  it  was 
the  only  Canadian  paper.  It  disappeared  in  1874,  after  one  hun- 
dred and  ten  years  of  existence. 

In  1778,  Fleury  Mesplet,  another  printer  coming  from  Phil- 
adelphia, founded  in  Montreal  La  Gazette  Litteraire,  which  hav- 
ing ceased  to  be  exclusively  literary  and  having  encroached  up- 
on the  political  arena,  died  after  about  a  year  of  existence. 

In  1785,  the  same  Fleury  Mesplet  began  the  publication  of 
La  Gazette  de  Montreal.  When  he  died,  in  1793,  his  paper  was 
bought  by  Mr.  Edwards  and  it  is  the  same  which  still  exists  under 
the  name  of  the  Montreal  Gazette. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  277 

In  1796  and  1797  another  Gazette  de  Montreal  was  simul- 
taneously published  by  Louis  Roy,  who  had  printed  before  the 
first  journal  of  Upper  Canada,  The  Canada  Gazette.  Those 
two  papers  were  edited  in  English  and  French. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  when  the  struggle 
between  the  French  Canadian  patriots'  party  and  the  English 
bureaucracy  became  more  acute,  many  fighting  papers  then  came 
out. 

First  of  all  appeared  Le  Canadien,  founded  in  1806  and 
which  after  getting  through  many  hardships  was  killed  by  Craig, 
general  governor,  in  1810. 

To  fight  against  Le  Canadien,  Thomas  Cary  brought  forth,  in 
1806,  the  Quebec  Mercury  which  was  still  more  fiery  than  Le 
Canadien. 

The  moderate  party  had  also,  at  that  time,  their  own  organs. 
Le  Courrier  de  Quebec  which  lived  from  1807  to  1818  and  Le 
Vrai  Canadien,  which  lasted  from  1807  to  1811.  Both  papers 
were  supported,  at  least  secretly,  by  the  Government. 

From  1810  to  1820,  other  journals  pursued  the  struggle  for 
each  side.  On  the  English  side,  the  most  prominent  as  well  as 
the  most  fanatic  at  that  time,  was  the  Herald,  which  was  es- 
tablished in  1811.  On  the  Canadian,  or  patriots'  side,  there  were 
above  all  Le  Spectateur,  founded  in  1813  by  C.  B.  Pasteur,  and 
the  Canadian  Spectator,  edited  in  English  by  Jocelyn  Waller. 
At  about  the  same  time  Michel  Bibaud  began  to  publish  periodical 
reviews  which  favored  bureaucracy. 

Then,  at  Three  Rivers,  Ludger  Duvernay  published  La  Ga- 
zette de  Trois-Rivieres,  Le  Constitutionnel  and  L'Argus,  which, 
although  they  had  a  short  life,  valiantly  fought  for  the  Canadian 
cause. 

In  1826,  La  Minerve,  the  most  accredited  organ  of  French 
Canadian  interests,  was  founded  by  A-Norbert  Morin.  That 
paper  lived  six  months  only.  It  was  revived  in  1827  by  Ludger 
Duvernay  as  publisher  and  by  the  same  A-Norbert  Morin  as 
editor. 

Before,  it  had  been  attempted  twice,  though  unsuccessfully, 
to  revive  Le  Canadien  in  Quebec,  but  that  paper  was  definitively 
re-established  in  1831,  with  Etienne  Parent  as  its  director. 

Until  1837,  La  Minerve  and  Le  Canadien  were  the  two  French 


278      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

papers  which  led  the  fight  against  the  Herald  and  the  Montreal 
Gazette.  ^  , 

La  Gazette  de  Quebec,  which  from  1822  had  ceased  to  be 
the  official  gazette,  went  also  into  the  fight,  but  with  moderate 
views. 

In  1832  came  out,  in  Montreal,  L'Ami  du  Peuple  which  sup- 
ported the  Government  while  he  was  supposed  to  fight  against 
the  exaggerations  of  the  Patriots. 

On  behalf  of  the  Patriots  were  then  published  in  Quebec 
Le  Liberal  by  S.  M.  Bouchette  and  Le  Fantasque  by  Aubin,  in 
Montreal,  La  Quotidienne  by  Lemaitre,  Lejean-Baptiste  by  Dr. 
Gauvin,  and  La  Canadienne  by  Plinguet.  As  a  supporter  of  the 
Government  there  was  above  all  Le  Populaire  published  by 
Gosselin  and  Leblanc  de  Marconnay.  Among  the  most  fiery 
champions  of  the  Patriots'  cause  there  was  also  The  Vindicator, 
edited  in  English  by  Dr.  O'Callaghan.  All  those  papers  were 
wiped  out  by  the  storm  of  1838-39.  Even  La  Minerve  was 
forced  to  give  up  for  some  time  its  publication  and  Ludger 
Duvernay,  who  had  run  away  to  Burlington,  edited  there  Le 
Patriote  Canadien. 

After  the  union  of  Upper  to  Lower  Canada,  the  struggle  was 
transferred  upon  the  constitutional  ground.  La  Minerve,  re- 
established in  1842  and  especially  inspired  by  Lafontaine,  called 
for  a  responsible  government,  and  it  was  supported  by  Le  Cana- 
dien, who  was  still  published  in  Quebec.  Both  papers  had  to 
fight  against  the  Montreal  Gazette,  the  Herald,  the  Transcript, 
the  Courier  and  sometimes  against  L'Aurore  des  Canadas,  a 
wavering  French  paper,  which,  having  been  established  in  1839, 
lasted  until  1848. 

During  the  same  period  several  publications  were  edited  by 
Michel  Bibaud:  La  Bibliotheque  Canadienne,  L'Observateur,  Le 
Magasin  du  Bas  Canada  and  L'Encyclopedia  Canadienne,  all  ig- 
noring politics. 

A  little  later,  the  political  struggle  took  place  between  the 
Liberal  party  as  created  by  Lafontaine  and  the  Red  party  as  es- 
tablished in  1844,  when  Louis-Joseph  Papineau  had  come  back 
to  Canada.  On  the  one  side  which  can  already  be  named  Liberal- 
Conservative  there  were,  each  having  its  shades  of  opinion.  La 
Minerve  of  Montreal,  Le  Canadien  of  Quebec  and,  from  1842, 
Le  Journal  de  Quebec. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  279 

On  the  radical  side  there  was  above  all  L'Avenir,  which  after 
having  been  founded  in  1847  by  Jean-Baptiste-Eric  Dorion,  gave 
its  place,  in  1852,  to  LePays  edited  by  Dessaulles.  In  1855  Le 
National  of  Juot,  Fournier  and  Plamondon  came  and  helped  Le- 
Pays. 

Among  the  influential  papers  which  came  along  and  helped 
the  Conservative  party  should  be  mentioned  Le  Courrier  du  Can- 
ada, established  in  1857  and  at  first  edited  by  Aubry. 

Under  the  pressure  of  political  evolution,  the  papers  varied 
more  and  more  until  the  Confederation.  Then,  in  1867,  was 
founded  L'Evenement  which,  edited  by  Hector  Fabre,  sustained 
for  years  a  most  strenuous  fight  against  Le  Journal  de  Quebec 
published  by  the  Honorable  Joseph  Cauchon. 

After  1867,  besides  the  party  papers  which  still  existed  like 
La  Minerve,  Le  Courrier  du  Canada,  L'Evenement,  Le  Canadien, 
Le  Journal  de  Quebec,  etc.,  there  were,  from  1870  to  1880,  many 
politico-religious  papers  which  most  acrimoniously  fought  each 
other.  Let  us  mention  L'Ordre,  edited  by  Mr.  Royal,  Le  Nouveau- 
Monde,  directed  by  Canon  Lamarche  and  Le  Franc-Parleur,  of 
Adolphe  Ouimet.  Of  the  same  kind  came,  a  little  later,  L'Etend- 
ard,  of  Senator  Trudel  and  Le  Journal  de  Trois-Rivieres  of 
McLeod. 

From  1880  H.  Beaugrand  founded  La  Patrie,  then  a  liberal 
organ,  and  in  1880  the  Hon.  C.  E.  Gagnon  brought  forth  at 
Quebec  L'Electeur,  another  Liberal  organ  which  while  edited 
by  Earnest  Pacaud  was  interdicted  and  then  became  Le  Soleil. 

In  1881  Le  Nouveau-Monde  was  transformed  into  Le  Monde 
which  was  made  by  its  publisher,  Frederic  Houde,  a  first  model 
of  what  was  to  be  the  French  Canadian  modern  newspaper. 
Houde  having  died,  his  paper  was  soon  supplanted  by  La  Presse, 
founded  by  Mr.  W.  E.  Blumhardt  in  1884,  but  reorganized  and 
remodeled  as  a  thorough  newspaper  of  today  by  Treffle  Berthi- 
aume  in  1889. 

Let  me  say  only  a  few  words  of  the  present  French  Canadian 
press.  There  are  four  French  dailies  published  in  Montreal : 
Le  Canada,  a  morning  Liberal  newspaper ;  La  Patrie,  Le  Devoir 
and  La  Presse,  all  independent  evening  newspapers. 

In  the  city  of  Quebec  there  are  three  French  dailies  Le  Soliel, 
organ  of  the  Liberal  party ;  L'Evenement  and  L'Action  Catho- 
lique,  both  independent  as  to  politics. 


280       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Besides,  there  are  a  few  French  daily  newspapers  pubhshed 
in  some  other  Canadian  cities,  for  instance:  Le  NourvilHste  in 
Three  Rivers,  La  Tribune  in  Sherbrooke  and  Le  Droit  in  Ottawa. 
From  the  maritime  provinces  to  the  Western  Canada  we  have 
also  a  great  number  of  French  weekly  newspapers,  literary  or 
scientific  reviews  which  are  of  a  most  valuable  credit  to  our 
French  Canadian  people  and  to  the  whole  Dominion's  com- 
munity at  large. 

Will  you  allow  me  to  say  just  a  few  words  more  about  La 
Presse,  the  French  newspaper  which  has  the  largest  circulation 
of  all  the  dailies  published  in  any  language  in  the  British  Domin- 
ion of  Canada. 

Established,  as  it  is,  by  a  courageous  self-made  man,  Trefifle 
Berthiaume,  who  was  a  printer,  that  paper  has  the  following 
program,  which  appears,  as  in  a  nutshell,  in  each  of  its  editions : 

La  Presse  is  an  institution  irrevocably  devoted  to  the  French- 
Canadian  interests :  free  from  political  influences,  it  treats  every- 
body with  justice,  protects  little  and  wxak  people  against  big 
and  strong  interests,  fights  for  right  against  wrong,  prefers  en- 
lightening to  governing,  makes  truth  shine  through  its  power- 
ful information  service  and  is  a  champion  of  reforms  which  can 
better  the  life  of  social  classes. 

Does  not  such  a  program  spell  some  of  what  might  inspire 
the  whole  press  of  the  world?  (Applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  We  next  have  an  opportunity  of  hear- 
ing a  representative  of  the  Havana  Reporters'  Association,  Mr. 
Agustin  Lazo  of  Cuba. 

MR.  LAZO:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  It  is 
not  the  first  time  that  journalists  from  the  different  countries  of 
the  world  have  analyzed,  studied  and  discussed  the  freedom  of 
the  press,  although  this  Press  Congress  of  the  World  is  somewhat 
different  in  character,  having  for  its  aim  fomenting  the  union 
and  solidarity  of  the  press.  It  is  convenient  at  this  time,  now 
that  we  are  assembled  to  discuss  arid  study  beneficial  measures 
to  make  decisions  in  relation  to  freedom  of  the  press,  proceeding 
without  any  passionate  feeling  which  might  tend  to  mar  otherwise 
harmonious  results  of  our  plans. 

The  freedom  of  the  press  as  has  been  asserted,  must  be  as 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  281 

wide  as  the  freedom  of  thought.  Our  thoughts  and  our  ideas 
cannot  be  checked.  Our  minds  may  conceive  sentiments  which 
cannot  be  governed  by  moral  or  human  law.  But  does  this  ap- 
ply in  the  same  way  in  regard  to  our  ideas?  Surely  not.  In 
our  minds  are  mixed  together  all  our  good  and  bad  sentiments, 
which  unfortunately  all  of  us  possess.  Purity  of  thought  does 
not  always  predominate. 

Freedom  of  the  press,  which  means  the  free  and  untram- 
melled expression  of  our  thoughts  cannot  be  so  governed  as  the 
freedom  of  thought,  which  certainly  has  no  boundaries,  no  cen- 
sors, no  rules,  and  no  laws  or  control.  Only  when  our  ideals  are 
all  pure  can  we  equalize  the  two  freedoms  which,  nevertheless, 
are  in  close  and  intimate  relation.  In  a  world  which  really  is 
not  our  earthly  world  the  conceptions  of  the  mind  and  its  ex- 
pressions are  apt  to  be  confused.  Let  us  therefore  struggle  for 
universal  purity  of  ideas  which  must  govern  the  spirits  of  those 
who,  like  ourselves,  have  for  their  object  the  guidance  of  public 
opinion  in  all  the  most  important  problems  of  life. 

Taking  into  consideration  the  importance  of  the  press,  which 
has  reached  the  denomination  of  Fourth  Power  of  the  State,  it 
is  only  logical  that  the  various  governments  have  had  to  publish 
laws  relating  to  the  press.  The  press  is  as  significant  in  the 
development  of  a  government  as  any  other  power  under  a  con- 
trol, offering  as  it  does  a  means  for  the  discussion  and  approval 
of  legislation  in  order  that  it  may  become  effective.  But  the 
press  is  something  more  than  a  law-making,  judicial  and  ex- 
ecutive power.  Restrictions  to  the  expression  of  written  thoughts 
have  been  only  local  or  national,  and  in  the  international  con- 
ventions, governments  have  never  intended  to  limit  the  activities 
of  the  press  to  the  sphere  around  which  the  press  turns.  In  no 
international  treaty  have  there  been  restrictions  against  which  it 
was  necessary  to  protest.  Our  sphere  of  action  has  no  bound- 
aries and  is  more  extensive  than  the  boundary  lines  of  the  dif- 
ferent countries  of  the  world.  The  ideas  scattered  by  the  press 
reach  to  all  points  of  the  compass,  whereas  laws  and  powers 
of  individual  governments  are  confined  to  one  particular  country. 
To  us  of  the  press  falls  the  responsibility  of  establishing  rules 
to  assure  healthful  and  favorable  results  for  mankind,  avoiding 
all  despotical  and  depreciative  proceedings  by  which  journalism 


282      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

can  lose  its  reputation  and  prestige  and  grow  repulsive  and  hate- 
ful. 

What  should  be  the  necessary  and  desired  freedom  of  the 
press,  and  how  can  that  freedom  be  defended  and  maintained? 
This  is  a  problem  which  opens  up  an  opportunity  for  wide  dis- 
cussion. The  political  relations  between  individual  citizens  and 
countries  provoke  a  different  situation  in  each  case.  Temperance 
of  rulers  is  not  the  same  in  each  case  and  temperance  of  writers 
is  always  different.  Laws  are  dififerent,  too,  and  the  internal  sit- 
uations differ  in  each  country. 

Another  point  I  have  especially  appreciated  in  my  country, 
the  Republic  of  Cuba,  has  been  the  nationality  of  writers.  The 
government  has  not  followed  the  same  course  against  natives 
and  foreigners  but  this  sentiment  has  had  to  be  completely 
changed. 

Freedom  of  the  press  is  necessary.  Sentiments  of  nations, 
just  as  the  sentiments  of  citizens  who  formed  those  nations, 
will  hardly  be  altered,  but  to  that  difficult  task  let  us  unite  in 
our  efforts.  May  divisions  between  the  journalists  of  the  world 
never  appear.  Let  ideas  be  expressed  freely  so  that  from  dis- 
cussions may  come  out  the  light,  pure  and  bright,  to  color  in  an 
atmosphere  of  transparency  and  cordial  harmony  the  spirits  of 
the  inhabitants  of  all  the  world,  maintaining  a  universal  peace 
and  an  intense,  deep,  and  mutual  love  amongst  human  beings. 

The  press  is  the  organization  in  charge  of  the  defense  of  men's 
rights,  of  the  liberties  of  nations,  of  universal  peace,  and  is  the 
institution  which  will  spread  knowledge  of  interest  to  everyone ; 
which  will  reflect  the  sentiments  of  public  opinion,  its  necessities, 
its  claims,  and  at  the  same  time  will  indicate  the  means  to  be 
employed  for  the  realization  of  inspired  ideals.  The  press  can 
not  be  put  aside  by  progress  and  civilization.  The  press  will  be 
the  means  of  transporting  from  mind  to  mind,  rapidly,  with  the 
speed  permitted  by  means  of  modern  communication,  the  events 
occurring  in  every  place.  To  governments  more  than  to  anybody 
else  will  depend  the  maintenance  of  the  freedom  of  the  press. 
Let  both  governments  and  the  press  unify  their  aims  towards 
the  maintenance  of  the  solidarity  they  need  so  that  passions 
will  not  break  out  furiously  as  a  storm  menacing  nationality, 
transformed   to   a   weak   vessel   without    steersmen   and   without 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  283 

secure  direction.  The  press  must  always  claim  the  rights  needed 
for  the  fulfillment  of  its  noble  and  beneficial  purpose.  How  shall 
the  press  claim  and  maintain  those  rights?  By  friendly  negotia- 
tions it  must  search  for  the  betterment  of  conditions,  first  within 
its  own  country,  exhausting  all  sources  given  by  code  and  reso- 
lutions in  force,  and  if  that  is  not  sufficient,  by  appealing  to  the 
Press  Congress  of  the  World,  which  after  hearing  the  details 
of  disagreement,  will  act  according  to  the  prudent  judgment  of 
a  committee  appointed  by  us.  This  committee  or  tribunal  so 
appointed  should  be  composed  of  press  representatives  from  the 
different  nations,  in  order  that  the  experiences  of  every  par- 
ticular nation  be  at  its  disposal.  Its  nomination  should  be  made 
immediately,  so  that  complaints  already  officially  presented  may 
be  made  known  to  this  Congress. 

According  to  my  reports,  we  have  two  communications  on 
the  table  of  this  Congress  and  they  ought  to  be  studied  carefully 
by  the  committee  named  for  investigation.  One  of  those  cases 
comes  from  Lima,  Peru,  where  the  government  has  expropriated 
the  building  and  properties  of  the  newspaper  El  Comercio,  one 
of  the  oldest  dailies  in  Lima.  Soldiers  were  sent  against  the 
house  alleging  a  breach  of  public  order  on  account  of  some 
articles  published  by  that  important  organ  of  the  Peruvian  Press. 
Mr.  Fernan  Cisneros,  the  owner,  one  of  the  vice-presidents  of 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  was  even  after  being  deprived 
of  his  belongings,  exiled,  and  now  lives  in  Panama  from  where 
he  is  sending  a  protest  to  the  civilized  world  and  especially  to 
journalists  and  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World. 

These  are  two  different  cases  worthy  of  our  attention  on  ac- 
count of  the  solidarity  we  are  obliged  to  maintain  with  journalists 
in  both  South  American  countries,  and  because  these  will  not  be 
the  only  cases  submitted  for  the  consideration  of  the  distinguished 
members  of  this  Congress.  The  first  case  is  isolated  to  the  life 
of  the  Peruvian  government.  The  second  relates  to  government 
systems  generally  as  criticized  by  the  press  of  almost  every  nation. 
In  both  cases  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  should  take  ac- 
tion, promising  its  moral  support. 

But  all  these  problems  I  have  referred  to  are  more  or  less 
governed  by  the  education  received  by  the  various  journalists. 
Frequently  the  freedom  to  express  ideas  will  depend  exclusively 


284       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

on  the  intelligence  and  prudence  of  the  writer,  who  must  have 
had  adequate  preparation  obtained  in  a  favorable  manner  and 
under  favorable  conditions  to  enable  him  to  properly  express  his 
thoughts  and  opinions. 

Now,  what  is  the  most  desirable  preparation  for  a  career  of 
journalism?  In  this  field  nothing  is  so  necessary  and  so  useful 
as  a  course  in  schools  of  journalism  as  established  in  the  United 
States  and  several  other  countries.  In  other  places  questions  re- 
lating to  the  establishment  of  a  faculty  in  the  universities  are 
pending  where  those  who  take  courses  in  politics,  science,  finance 
or  religion  may  also  study  modern  journalism.  In  Cuba  we  are 
trying  to  establish  our  school  of  journalism.  We  need  it  and 
it  would  be  a  great  asset  to  the  success  of  journalism  in  the 
future. 

To  these  schools  we  ought  to  direct  our  thoughts  now  that 
we  are  assembled  here  for  the  search  of  new  plans  tending  to 
the  improvement  of  journalism.  The  Press  Congress  of  the 
World  must  start  an  effective  campaign  on  behalf  of  these  schools 
for  journalism.  Within  them,  pupils  will  learn  to  demonstrate 
a  knowledge  of  good  grammar  and  literature  in  the  language 
used  in  their  writings.  There  should  also  be  civic  instruction 
which  will  include  elements  of  the  constitution,  administration, 
political  and  international  law,  political  economy,  ethics  and  mod- 
ern history.  The  pupils  should  also  have  practical  training  for 
writing  editorials  and  for  searching  out  the  news.  The  teachers 
in  these  schools  of  journalism  should  be  persons  of  unquestioned 
ability  in  order  that  they  may  give  their  scholars  besides  tech- 
nical knowledge  the  necessary  capacity  to  rapidly  estimate  the 
value  of  any  particular  event  and  applying  great  doses  of  prudence, 
discretion,  sagacity  and  acuteness  of  mind,  qualities  on  which 
will  greatly  depend  the  success  of  the  students,  because  journal- 
ism embodies  all  human  activities  and  is  the  motor  of  ideas  in 
the  advancement  of  modern  civilization.   (Applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  As  the  last  speaker  of  the  morning  we 
have  the  opportunity  of  hearing  a  representative  of  China,  a 
member  of  the  staff  of  The  China  Press  of  Shanghai,  commis- 
sioned by  the  Press  Association  of  Shanghai,  China,  to  this  body, 
educated  at  the  University  of  Michigan,  United  States.  I  have 
great  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  Mr.  Jabin  Hsu. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  285 

MR.  JABIN  HSU:  Mr.  Chairman  and  Members  of  the 
Press  Congress :  Perhaps  you  will  remember  that  our  esteemed 
friend,  Colonel  Lawson,  at  the  opening  session,  told  you  in  a 
very  neat  way  what  he  thought  of  America.  My  message  will 
be  more  or  less  an  address  from  one  organic  body  to  another 
organic  body,  viz :  what  we,  the  Chinese  press,  think  of  the  world 
press.    It  is  in  that  name  that  I  propose  to  speak  this  morning. 

The  press  of  China  is  rapidly  growing  in  influence  and  is 
now  voicing  the  opinions  of  the  thinking  Chinese.  Its  views 
on  matters  of  domestic  concern  carry  much  weight  with  all 
classes  of  people  in  the  country.  I  believe  that  before  long  the 
views  of  the  Chinese  press  on  matters  of  international  character 
will  carry  equal  weight  with  the  people  of  other  nations.  As 
the  opinion  expressed  by  the  Chinese  press  on  all  kinds  of  topics 
of  the  day  are  shared  to  a  more  or  less  extent  by  the  populace, 
a  discussion  of  the  views  of  the  press  in  my  country  about  the 
world  press  may  not  be  lacking  in  interest,  representing  as  it 
does  the  concensus  of  public  opinion  in  China. 

Before  the  World  War,  the  Chinese  press,  which  was  then 
in  its  infancy,  paid  all  its  attention  to  domestic  affairs  and  sel- 
dom, if  ever,  ventured  into  the  realm  of  international  politics. 
The  war,  however,  was  responsible  for  the  shifting  of  part  of 
the  attention  to  world  problems.  Since  1914,  the  newspapermen 
in  my  country  had  been  eagerly  devouring  all  the  news  dished 
out  by  the  foreign  press  about  aflfairs  of  other  continents,  es- 
pecially about  the  news  of  international  nature  in  relation  to 
China.  In  their  first  contact  with  the  newspaper  world  of  the 
West,  Chinese  journalists  placed  implicit  confidence  in  what  they 
read  in  the  foreign  papers. 

However,  when  the  roar  of  cannon  and  the  butchery  of  human 
beings  ceased  on  that  memorable  day,  November  11,  1918,  the 
newspapers  in  China  were  led  by  the  world  press  to  believe  that 
finally  the  better  instincts  of  mankind  would  assert  themselves 
and  that  arms  would  be  subordinated  to  reason  while  aggrandise- 
ment and  imperialism  would  simultaneously  cease.  Chinese  jour- 
nalists all  over  the  country  hailed  the  same  unanimous  view  that 
instead  of  secret  diplomacy,  we  were  to  have  covenants  openly 
arrived  at  and  instead  of  entangling  alliances,  we  were  to  have  a 
League  of  Nations  with  armament  reduced  to  a  minimum   re- 


286       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

quired  for  the  performance  of  mere  police  duties.  Thus  the 
Chinese  people  were  led  by  their  own  press,  which  was  in  turn 
led  by  the  world  press,  to  believe  that  the  longed  for  Utopia  was 
about  to  be  realized  and  that  liberty,  justice  and  equality  would 
soon  reign  supreme.  For  had  not  the  European  and  the  Ameri- 
can press  repeatedly  declared  to  the  world  that  the  great  war  was 
a  war  to  end  all  future  wars  and  that  the  Allies  were  fighting 
for  justice  and  civilization  against  militarism  and  barbarism? 
Such  press  views  from  America  and  Europe  were  re-echoed 
by  the  press  in  China.  And  the  people  of  China  had  the  great- 
est faith  in  them.  Urged  on  by  these  promises  as  were  scattered 
broadcast  by  the  press  of  the  world,  the  people  of  China  bore 
the  heavy  burden  of  deprivation  and  sacrifice  willingly  in  fond 
hopes  of  future  peace.  But  today,  after  three  long  years,  they 
find  themselves  disillusioned  and  deceived  by  press  reports.  In- 
stead of  a  period  of  social,  financial  and  political  quietude,  we 
face  today  a  world  of  unrest  in  which  we  Chinese  are  sufifering 
equally  with  the  rest  of  the  world.  During  the  last  three  years, 
more  strikes  and  labor  troubles  have  happened  than  in  any  other 
period  of  similar  duration  in  history.  In  a  word,  the  Versailles 
Conference  did  not  prove  to  be  the  panacea  that  the  Chinese  ex- 
pected. Has  the  press  deceived  the  Chinese  pre?s.  and  through 
the  Chinese  press,  deceived  the  Chinese  people  by  holding  out  an 
unusually  bright  future,  a  future  which  was  later  proved  to  be 
a  mere  illusion? 

Most  of  the  Chinese  journalists  have  now  realized — whether 
rightly  or  wrongly — that  the  press  news  from  Europe  and  Ameri- 
ca had  selfish  purposes  to  serve ;  that  the  whole  truth  of  the 
conditions  of  the  West  at  the  moment  was  not  wholly  told,  oi 
that  the  foreign  pressmen,  or  publishers  of  the  foreign  news- 
papers, were  but  catspaws  in  the  hands  of  their  statesmen  and 
carried  out  their  instructions  for  the  furtherance  of  a  political 
program.  The  confidence  of  the  Chinese  journalists  in  the  for- 
eign press  for  the  time  being  is  being  totally  shaken.  Their 
criticism  of  the  toreign  press  which  they  consider  as  not  playing 
the  game  fairly,  is  rather  severe,  and  perhaps  too  severe.  The 
advice  they  offer  to  remedy  what  they  consider  as  a  deplorable 
international  situation  is  sound.  They  suggest  that  if  the  world 
press  is  to  continue  the  enjoyment  of  the  confidence  of  mankind,  it 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  287 

should  endeavor  to  refer  back  now  and  then  to  old  facts  while 
reporting  the  new  events.  In  order  to  make  themselves  clear 
on  this  point,  one  newspaper  had  this  much  to  say: 

"Great  statesmen  of  two  continents  in  the  midst  of  the  war 
promised  in  the  most  solemn  manner  a  new  world  to  mankind 
after  the  termination  of  the  great  international  conflict,  prom- 
ised equal  rights  to  big  as  well  as  small  nations  and  promised 
self-determination  of  the  people.  The  newspapers  in  America 
and  Europe  wrote  editorials  after  editorials  praising  them  with- 
out reservation,  to  use  a  Chinese  expression,  'to  the  skyward.' 
At  the  Versailles  Peace  Conference,  the  words  and  acts  of  these 
advocates  of  high-sounding  principles  were  found  to  be  dia- 
metrically opposite.  And  the  people  and  the  press  of  China  ex- 
pected to  find  in  the  various  foreign  papers  which  used  to  praise 
them  without  qualification  editorials  of  condemnation,  but  they 
were  disappointed  as  they  found  nothing  of  the  kind.  There  was 
silence  which  the  foreign  press  religiously  observed  with  regard 
to  the  inconsistency  of  the  deeds  and  words  of  their  statesmen; 
the  silence  could  be  interpreted  as  their  connivance  at  the  low 
grade  statecraft." 

Another  paper  endorsed  the  foregoing  views  and  added  that 
if  the  world  press  is  to  serve  mankind,  it  should  take  to  task 
those  statesmen  who  make  promises  which  are  not  meant  to  be 
carried  out.  These  suggestions,  I  feel  certain,  are  worthy  of 
■consideration  by  press  representatives. 

If  the  press  is  to  lead  world  opinion,  it  must  exercise  pres- 
sure wherever  and  whenever  it  is  necessary  in  the  interest  of 
public  welfare.  Once  a  great  statesman  who  does  not  intend  to 
keep  his  promises  which  are  made  to  secure  either  cheap  pub- 
licity or  to  mislead  the  world,  experiences  such  pressure,  he 
dare  not  to  repeat  it  and  will  be  more  truthful  in  what  he  says 
as  well  as  what  he  does  in  the  future.  The  vigilance  of  the 
press  over  conduct  of  those  who  are  "high-up,"  when  effectively 
exercised,  will  do  away  with  much  misunderstandings,  which  are 
responsible  for  all  human  conflicts,  and  will  finally  lead  to  the 
creation  of  a  better  world.  Is  the  international  press  ready  to 
assume  this  responsibility?  This  responsibility  is  by  no  means 
light,  but  it  cannot  be  assumed  by  any  other  institution  except  the 
press  of  the  world.     If  the  world  press  is  not  yet  ready  to  do 


288      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

so,  then  it  fails  to  perform  its  vital  function  of  guiding  the  world 
opinion  along  the  proper  channels  and  enforcing  what  is  right 
and  fair. 

Having  been  disappointed  by  the  foreign  press  and  inclined 
to  distrust  news  reports  from  abroad,  the  leading  Chinese  jour- 
nalists have  offered  their  reading  public  an  explanation  of  their 
own  with  reference  to  the  cause  of  the  economic  and  political 
unrest.  This  unrest  is  attributed  to  the  return  of  the  United 
States  of  America  to  her  ante-bellum  isolation.  They  stated  that 
the  enthusiasm  with  which  she  went  into  the  war  and  waged  it 
has  now  become  supercooled ;  since  the  conclusion  of  the  war, 
she  has  been  almost  deaf  to  the  appeal  of  the  sore  distressed 
world.  On  this  question,  the  general  comment  of  the  Chinese 
press,  which  undoubtedly  supplies  American  newspapermen  much 
food  for  thought,  runs  in  this  way : 

"The  United  States  which  for  years  considered  her  splendid 
isolation  as  a  justification  for  being  indifferent  to  world  affairs, 
discovering  in  1917  that  she  could  not  keep  herself  further  aloof 
from  the  cataclysm  of  Europe,  jumped  into  it  just  in  the  nick  of 
time  to  save  what  was  left  of  this  old  world  of  ours.  The  Allies, 
strengthened  not  only  materially  but  more  so  morally,  emerged 
victorious  and  were  going  to  run  the  world,  as  their  statesmen 
said,  on  a  new  plan.  The  big  heads  of  Europe,  Asia,  and  Amer- 
ica met  to  devise  this  plan  of  running  the  world  whereby  every 
one  was  promised  a  decent  chance  to  live  and  be  happy.  This 
plan  was  evolved  in  the  covenants  of  the  so-called  League  of 
Nations.  President  Wilson  brought  this  plan  back  to  the  United 
States,  but  the  American  people  could  not  stand  for  any  such 
league  as  that  existing  at  that  time.  What  now?  Every  piece 
of  news  that  comes  from  Europe  indicates  that  war  has  ex- 
hausted practically  all  the  resources  at  the  command  of  Europe, 
which  badly  needs  America's  aid  to  rehabilitate  herself.  Austria 
is  starving.  Spain,  Italy,  France  and  England  are  all  turbulent 
with  constant  labor  troubles,  making  production  impossible, 
America  is  the  only  nation  in  the  world  which  is  able  to  help 
the  world,  but  she,  for  good  reasons,  declines  to  do  so.  Hence 
Europe  today  is  starving,  while  America  has  goods,  money  and 
clothing  in  abundance.  The  exalted  mood  of  wartime  has  died 
away  and  the  American  people  who  gladly  made  sacrifices  in  the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  289 

war  are  now  demanding  the  concentration  of  American  energy 
and  wealth  for  America  alone.  The  general  populace  who  made 
such  supreme  sacrifices  during  the  conflagration  are  now  return- 
ing to  their  old  time  mode  of  living  in  a  rather  cool-blooded 
spirit." 

"The  high  cost  of  living,"  to  get  some  further  ideas  about  the 
Chinese  press  comment  on  world  afifairs,  "has  been  due  to  Amer- 
ica's indifference  to  international  affairs  and  refusal  to  meddle 
in  European  affairs  and  to  play  her  manifest  role  as  the  hope  of 
mankind.  Europe  needs  America's  raw  material,  her  coal,  wheat 
and  financial  credit,  but  America  is  evidently  unmoved.  If 
America  had  the  same  enthusiasm  now  as  when  she  fought  for 
civilization  then,  we  might  have  a  different  world  altogether." 

We  who  have  been  in  touch  with  the  affairs  of  the  world  more 
closely  know  that  such  comment  in  the  Chinese  press  is  far  from 
being  fair.  We  know  too  well  that  it  is  not  the  withdrawal  of 
the  United  States  from  European  affairs,  but  the  inevitable  af- 
ter-war effects  that  are  principally  accountable  for  the  political 
and  labor  unrest  all  over  the  world.  But  ladies  and  gentlemen, 
you  are  reaping  your  own  harvest  from  what  you  sowed  during 
the  war.  The  foreign  press  has  destroyed  the  confidence  of  the 
Chinese  pressmen,  who  are  naturally  not  very  well-acquainted 
with  world  conditions,  in  the  reliability  of  its  news  and  it  is  only 
natural  that  they  should  allow  their  own  imagination  free  play 
which  is  most  injurious  to  the  world  at  large.  For  the  misinter- 
pretation by  the  Chinese  press  of  the  world  conditions  today — 
for  which  America  has  been  held  responsible — the  foreign  press, 
especially  the  American  journalists,  have  to  thank  themselves. 

In  order  to  secure  a  renewed  confidence  of  the  Chinese  press- 
men in  Western  journalism  the  papers  in  America  and  Europe 
should  discard  expediency  and  perform  their  function  of  sup- 
plying genuine  information  and  of  supervising  the  conducts  of 
statesmen  of  the  world  faithfully,  though  unpleasantly.  A  world 
press  free  from  jingoism  and  consecrated  solely  to  public  wel- 
fare can  overcome  the  unfavorable  attitude  of  the  average 
Chinese  newspapermen  towards  their  Western  fellow-craftsmen. 
I  hope  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the  public  press  may  be 
consecrated  to  the  high  ideals  so  eloquently  urged  by  the  leading 
journalists  of  the  day  at  this  Congress. 

19 


290       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  faithful  performance  by  the  Western  press  of  its  func- 
tion in  the  light  of  the  comment  of  the  Chinese  press  is  impor- 
tant, for  it  does  not  need  a  prophet  to  tell  that  the  Pacific  will 
be  the  storm  center  of  the  world  in  the  years  to  come.  The 
responsibilities  of  our  fellow-craftsmen  in  handling  Pacific  prob- 
lems correctly  are  immensely  heavy.  We  know  by  experience 
that  we  cannot  entirely  rely  on  diplomats  for  the  promotion  of 
international  peace.  They  too  often  misunderstand  one  another 
and  the  slightest  spark  of  friction  among  them  would  kindle  the 
fire  of  Mars  to  slaughter  the  sons  of  men !  As  nations,  we  are 
by  no  means  intelligent  on  the  affairs  of  one  another,  largely 
perhaps  due  to  the  failure  of  the  press  to  perform  its  sacred  duty 
of  telling  the  "truth,  the  whole  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth." 
We  are  suspicious  of  one  another.  Consequently,  some  nations 
resort  madly  to  the  increase  of  armament  as  a  means  of  preserva- 
tion while  others  indulge  in  secret  diplomacy,  intrigue  and  op- 
pression of  the  weak. 

Here  is  an  opportunity  for  the  foreign  press  to  show  its 
Eastern  brother  that  it  is  sincere  in  working  for  universal  peace 
and  it  will  not  hesitate  to  note  publicly  inconsistencies  of  their 
statesmen,  which  will  remove  some  of  the  misunderstandings 
now  entertained  by  the  Chinese  press.  Within  a  month  from 
today,  there  will  be  held  in  Washington  a  Disarmament  Con- 
ference. At  this,  many  of  China's  intricate  problems  will  be 
discussed  and  her  grievances,  we  hope,  aired.  There  may  be 
obstacles  to  the  solution  of  these  problems.  But  American  and 
European  statesmen,  as  well  as  those  from  the  Orient,  have  re- 
peatedly announced  their  intention  to  see  to  it  that  China  re- 
ceives a  square  deal  at  the  Conference  table  and  that  some  means 
will  be  devised  for  the  reinforcement  of  the  policy  of  Open 
Door  and  the  principle  of  territorial  integrity  of  our  country. 
If  these  statesmen  will  carry  out  their  promises  in  letter  and  in 
spirit,  well  and  good;  but,  if  not,  I  trust  that  the  press  of  the 
world  will  not  allow  them  to  pass  unnoticed  as  they  did  during 
the  Paris  Conference.  A  repetition  of  the  events  at  the  Paris  Con- 
ference will  confirm  the  unfavorable  opinion  of  the  Chinese  press 
and  will  produce  undesirable  results,  because,  as  we  all  know,  not 
until  the  last  war  cloud  disappears  from  the  Pacific  horizon  will 
the  nations  of  the  world  trust  each  other  and  lay  down  their 
arms. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  291 

Ladies  and  gentlemen  of  the  Press,  I  have  frankly  stated 
to  you  the  views  of  the  Chinese  press  on  the  world  press.  In 
giving  them,  I  have  no  other  motive  than  to  bring  closer  to- 
gether the  relationship  between  the  press  of  the  Orient  with  that 
of  the  Occident.  The  sincere  co-operation  of  these  pressmen  of 
the  East  and  the  West  is  imperative  as  it  will  result  in  a  better 
understanding  between  nations  at  this  critical  hour.  Let  us  re- 
member that  our  interest  in  the  journalistic  profession  is  in 
concord  and  not  in  conflict  and  our  real  success  rests  in  public 
service  and  co-operation.  I  hope  that  all  who  are  here  this  af- 
ternoon, whether  he  be  an  editor,  a  publisher  or  a  business  man- 
ager, I  hope  he  may  be  moved  to  higher  and  nobler  efforts  for 
his  own  and  the  world's  good  and  that  out  of  this  Congress  may 
come  not  only  cordial  relations  between  the  delegates,  confidence 
and  fraternity,  improvement  of  our  profession,  but  also  service 
to  humanity  and  consecration  of  the  high  ideals  of  mankind  so 
as  to  make  this  old  world  of  ours  more  pleasant  to  live  in ! 

It  will  be  a  great  satisfaction,  I  am  sure,  if  as  a  result  of 
this  historical  gathering  of  the  leading  members  of  the  journal- 
istic profession  here  at  the  crossroads  of  the  Pacific  we  at  once 
join  hands  to  carry  out  this  supreme  duty!   (Applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  Opportunity  will  be  given  tomorrow 
for  the  discussion  of  Mr.  Hsu's  interesting  and  suggestive  paper, 
as  well  as  for  discussion  of  the  other  papers  read  this  morning. 

This  afternoon,  beginning  at  two  o'clock  we  will  have  some 
important  and  interesting  addresses,  closing  the  program  of  for- 
mal addresses  at  this  Congress  session.  Some  most  stimulating 
addresses  will  be  made  this  afternoon. 

The  Congress  will  be  in  recess  until  two  o'clock. 


SEVEJNTH  SESSION. 

WEDNESDAY  AFTERNOON,  OCTOBER  19,   1921. 

Congress  was  called  to  order  at  two  p.  m.  by  President  Wil- 
liams. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Secretary  will  read  a  message  from 
His  Excellency,  the  Governor  of  Hongkong. 

THE  SECRETARY:  This  letter  has  been  entrusted  to  Mr. 


292       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Petrie,  delegate  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  from  the 
Hongkong  press,  who  handed  it  to  Governor  Farrington,  who  in 
turn  suggests  that  it  be  made  part  of  the  minutes  of  the  Press 
Congress.  That  has  been  done  and  the  letter  from  the  Governor 
of  Hongkong  is  as  follows : 

Government   House 
HONGKONG,   9th  August,   1921. 
To  the  Governor  of  Hawaii: 

I  avail  myself  of  the  opportunity  afforded  by  the  presence  of  Mr.  T. 
Petrie  as  Delegate  of  the  Hongkong  Press  at  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World  to  send  greetings  to  Your  Excellency  and  to  express  the  hope  that 
the  results  of  the  Congress  meeting  in  your  territory  will  be  to  enhance  the 
value  of  the  World's  Press  by  facilitating  the  dissemination  of  accurate  in- 
formation and  thus  helping  to  remove  prejudices  and  misunderstandings 
and  to  promote  international  goodwill  and  co-operation. 

R.    E.    Stubbs, 

Governor,  &c. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  However  full  the  news  reports  and  how- 
ever fair  and  instructive  the  editorial  opinions  may  be,  unless 
a  newspaper  has  readers,  news  and  opinion  do  not  serve  the  de- 
sired purpose.  The  first  paper  this  afternoon  is  on  "The  Build- 
ing of  Circulation,"  by  a  conspicuously  successful  country  pub- 
lisher from  the  middle  of  the  United  States,  Mr.  H.  U.  Bailey, 
of  the  Bureau  County  Republican,  Princeton,  Illinois. 

MR.  BAILEY:  Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Congress: 
I  might  say  here  that  I  believe  that  the  publishing  of  the  news  in 
a  community  is  usually  a  matter  of  education  to  be  conducted  by 
the  editor  of  the  paper.  In  our  own  experience  I  know  that  we 
are  now  publishing  a  very  large  line  of  news  matter  which  fifteen 
or  twenty  years  ago  we  could  not  have  published  without  giving 
offense  to  a  considerable  number  of  people,  but  the  people  in 
our  community  have  learned  to  feel  that  matters  of  real  import- 
ance are  going  to  be  published,  and  unless  there  is  some  senti- 
mental reason — some  innocent  people  to  suffer — the  subscribers 
know  it  will  be  published. 

The  modern  newspaper  is  a  commercial  institution  to  the 
extent  that  it  has  two  commodities  for  sale — circulation  and  ad- 
vertising. Both  of  these  are  essential  to  the  success  of  any 
newspaper  enterprise  for  they  constitute  the  only  legitimate 
sources  of  revenue  upon  which  a  newspaper  may  depend  for  sup- 
port.   Of  course,  many  newspapers,  especially  in  country  towns, 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  293 

operate  a  job  printing  plant  from  which  a  profit  is  derived,  but 
certainly  the  income  from  job  printing  cannot  be  reckoned  as 
newspaper  earnings. 

In  my  opinion  the  circulation  of  a  newspaper  is  its  greatest 
asset,  for  upon  the  circulation,  its  size  and  character,  depends 
the  value  of  its  advertising  space.  It  is  the  basis  upon  which 
advertising  rates  are  fixed  and  is  the  lodestone  which  attracts 
advertisers  who  have  a  message  to  deliver  to  the  public. 

The  building  of  circulation  is  one  of  the  publisher's  most  im- 
portant and  sometimes  most  difficult  problems.  A  large  sub- 
scription list  is  the  ambition  of  every  publisher  of  a  newspaper 
whether  he  be  located  in  a  great  city  or  in  a  little  country  town. 
Circulation  is  the  tape-measure  of  popularity.  It  indicates  the 
degree  in  which  the  newspaper  is  fulfilling  its  mission  in  the 
community  and  the  response  which  its  efforts  to  supply  useful 
information  meets  from  the  people  it  attempts  to  serve. 

No  newspaper  can  hope  to  succeed  unless  it  becomes  a  vital, 
throbbing  part  of  the  community  life.  It  must  reflect  what  is 
in  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  people ;  it  must  be  a  faithful 
record  of  human  progress  and  human  events ;  it  must  lead  the 
way  with  the  pulpit  toward  the  better  things  of  life.  It  must 
win  and  hold  the  confidence  of  the  people  as  the  champion  of 
right  and  justice  and  the  unceasing  antagonist  of  that  which  is 
against  the  common  good. 

To  reach  this  goal,  requires  more  than  good  intentions.  It 
requires  hard  work,  tenacity  of  purpose,  and  a  keeii  understand- 
ing of  human  nature.  While  truth  in  journalism  is  essential  to 
success  there  must  be  coupled  with  it  energy  and  alertness  to 
deliver  the  news  bright  and  fresh  from  the  various  centers  of  ac- 
tivity. Wherever  the  common  welfare  is  concerned  the  news- 
paper should  spare  neither  time,  effort  nor  money  to  keep  the 
public  informed.     It  will  be  repaid  many  fold. 

I  once  knew  a  newspaper  man  in  Iowa  who  conducted  a 
weekly  paper  in  a  small  town  for  twenty  years,  and  it  was  his  boast 
that  he  had  never  published  an  item  that  gave  offense  to  any  of 
his  subscribers.  He  was  proud  of  the  claim  that  he  did  not 
have  an  enemy  in  the  world.  And  yet,  when  he  became  a  can- 
didate for  the  job  of  local  postmaster  he  could  not  muster  enough 
support  to  land  the  job  and  failed.     While  perhaps,  it  was  true 


294       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

that  he  did  not  have  any  enemies,  his  supine  attitude  during  his 
twenty  years  of  editorship  did  not  make  him  any  real  warm 
friends  and  both  he  and  his  paper  were  a  failure  in  that  com- 
munity. 

The  publisher  in  building  up  circulation  is  engaged  in  the 
sales  end  of  a  commercial  enterprise.  He  is  selling  his  product 
— news.  He  has  the  same  things  to  consider  that  a  merchant 
has  who  is  setting  out  to  market  his  goods.  The  same  principles 
of  salesmanship  apply  to  both.  In  the  first  place  there  must  be 
a  need  for  his  product  and  in  the  second  place  he  must  produce 
something  that  fills  the  need. 

A  study  of  the  history  of  American  journalism  reveals  an  in- 
finite variety  of  methods  for  the  building  of  circulation.  In  fact, 
American  publishers,  as  business  men,  have  shown  as  much  versa- 
tility and  as  much  ingenuity  in  selling  their  product  as  have  the  men 
engaged  in  other  lines  of  business.  Many  schemes  have  been  de- 
vised for  getting  subscribers,  some  of  them  excellent  in  their  re- 
sults and  others  not  so  good.  Voting  contests,  premium  offers, 
free  trial  subscriptions,  and  a  great  many  other  schemes  have 
been  tried  by  publishers  all  over  the  land,  with  varying  results. 
For  our  part  we  have  never  tried  any  of  these.  We  employ  sub- 
scription solicitors  during  the  summer  months  of  the  year  but 
we  have  never  employed  advertising  solicitors.  Advertisers  come 
voluntarily  to  the  office  and  to  meet  their  needs  in  addition  to 
our  news  service  we  find  it  necessary  to  print  from  sixteen  to 
twenty-four  pages  of  each  issue.  In  the  matter  of  circulation 
I  believe  publishers  should  give  their  advertisers  full  and  accurate 
information  concerning  that  which  they  are  buying,  viz :  cir- 
culation. Therefore  at  six  months  intervals  we  issue  rate  and 
circulation  folders  in  which  we  give  the  total  sworn  circulation 
during  the  preceding  six  months  and  we  supplement  this  with  a 
table  giving  the  exact  number  of  subscribers  in  each  town  and 
on  each  rural  route  of  the  county.  In  addition  to  the  affidavit 
we  publish  a  guarantee  in  which  we  agree  that  we  will  cancel  the 
bill  of  any  advertiser  or  refund  the  amount  paid  by  any  adver- 
tiser in  case  such  advertiser  points  out  one  instance  in  which 
an  error  of  as  many  as  six  subscriptions  has  been  made  in  any 
town  or  on  any  one  of  the  forty-nine  rural  routes  of  the  county. 
We  let  these  circulation  statements  take  the  place  of  advertising 
solicitors. 


P?'oceedings  of  the  Congress  295 

Personally  I  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  circulation  is 
something  which  cannot  be  acquired  in  a  day  or  a  year.  The 
building  of  a  substantial,  bona  fide  subscription  list  is  the  work 
of  years.     It  must  rest  upon  a  firm  foundation. 

In  my  judgment,  the  first  essential  in  building  circulation  is 
to  furnish  a  really  worth-while  newspaper.  In  other  words, 
manufacture  a  meritorious  article  for  which  there  is  a  public 
demand.  It  is  useless  to  send  out  agents  to  secure  subscribers  if 
you  cannot  hold  them  after  you  get  them.  You  must  furnish  a 
satisfactory  news  service,  giving  in  an  interesting  manner  an  un- 
biased report  of  the  events  transpiring  in  the  community  which 
you  serve. 

I  do  not  wish  to  pose  before  this  World  Press  Congress  as  an 
expert  circulation  builder.  I  am  simply  a  country  editor,  who  has 
achieved  a  measure  of  success,  and  willing  to  share  the  benefit 
of  my  experience  with  my  fellow  publishers.  If  there  is  any- 
thing in  that  experience  that  may  be  useful  to  you,  I  gladly  give 
it. 

When  I  acquired  the  Bureau  County  Republican,  which  was 
established  seventy-five  years  ago  at  Princeton,  Illinois,  a  town 
of  about  5,000  inhabitants,  it  had  a  circulation  of  2,500.  It  was 
a  weekly  paper  in  a  county  seat  town  and  because  it  carried  the 
news  of  the  courts  and  the  proceedings  of  the  board  of  super- 
visors it  had  a  more  or  less  general  circulation  throughout  Bureau 
County,  an  agricultural  district  with  approximately  43,000  in- 
habitants. 

Without  artificial  means  to  stimulate  subscription  sales  a 
campaign  was  undertaken  to  increase  the  circulation.  One  of  the 
first  steps  in  this  direction  was  the  appointment  of  additional 
correspondents  in  order  to  cover  every  local  community  in  the 
county  and  thereby   improve  and  extend   the   news   service. 

We  have  raised  the  number  of  our  correspondents  from  twen- 
ty to  fifty-six  in  a  territory  thirty-six  miles  square,  in  addition 
to  our  regular  editorial  stafif  at  Princeton.  These  correspondents 
are  volunteers  who  contribute  items  of  news  each  week  from 
their  community  in  a  total  volume  of  from  fourteen  to  twenty 
columns  without  other  remuneration  than  a  free  copy  of  the 
paper.  We  could  not  afford  to  maintain  such  a  large  corps  of 
correspondents  if  we  had  to  pay  them  in  cash,  but  we  have  tried 


296      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

to  make  our  paper  represent  our  county  in  such  a  way  that  in 
contributing  to  our  news  columns  these  correspondents  feel  they 
are  serving  their  community  and  take  a  certain  pride  in  the  dis- 
tinction. The  correspondents  for  the  most  part  are  persons  of 
prominence  in  the  community.  They  include  teachers,  justices  of 
the  peace,  housewives,  ministers  and  farmers.  Many  of  them 
have  served  for  more  than  twenty  years  and  usually  when  they 
drop  out  they  arrange  with  others  to  take  their  places.  We  sel- 
dom have  to  look  for  a  new  correspondent  to  fill  a  vacancy. 

We  got  a  foothold  in  the  towns  outside  of  Princeton  by  send- 
ing special  staff  men  into  them  and  "writing  up"  the  town.  We 
picked  out  the  leading  industries  and  the  leading  citizens  and 
the  leading  things  of  interest  in  them  and  in  special  articles,  illus- 
trated with  pictures,  we  touched  the  local  pride  of  the  people  to 
work  up  a  friendly  attitude  toward  the  paper.  Then  our  solicitors 
were  sent  in  to  sell  subscriptions  and  by  this  method  our  circula- 
tion was  greatly  increased.  That  was  about  fifteen  years  ago. 
Never  since  then  have  we  permitted  our  circulation  to  take  a 
slump.  We  have  never  lost  sight  of  the  fact  that  we  are  selling 
news  and  that  the  only  reason  people  buy  our  paper  is  to  get  the 
news.  Like  the  wise  merchants,  we  aim  to  give  our  patrons  the 
best  on  the  market  at  the  lowest  possible  cost  and  we  have  cen- 
tered our  efforts  on  putting  out  a  good  newspaper.  We  print  all 
the  news  that  we  can  get  hold  of  in  our  territory  and  pass  it  on 
to  our  readers  in  as  interesting  a  fashion  as  our  staff  can  present 
it.  We  do  not  suppress  legitimate  news  through  fear  or  favor  nor 
do  we  permit  personal  animosities  to  creep  into  our  news  or  edi- 
torial columns.  We  strive  to  conduct  the  Republican  so  that  it 
will  command  the  respect  and  confidence  of  our  readers  and  keep 
them  constantly  with  us.  That  we  have  succeeded  is  evident  by  the 
fact  that  we  have  many  names  on  our  list  that  have  been  there  for 
half  a  century  and  in  numerous  instances  there  are  as  many  as 
three  generations  of  the  same  family  taking  our  paper. 

The  Republican  has  grown  in  circulation  in  the  last  fifteen 
years  from  2,500  to  7,100  in  a  territory  where  approximately 
35,000  of  the  inhabitants  speak  the  English  language.  This  is  an 
average  of  one  copy  to  every  five  persons.  There  are  nine  rural 
delivery  routes  radiating  from  the  city  of  Princeton  and  there  is 
an  average  of  ninety-six  mail  boxes  on  each  route.    The  average 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  297 

number  of  Republicans  going  on  these  routes  is  eighty-eight.  The 
RepubHcan  goes  into  eighty-five  per  cent  of  the  mail  boxes  on  the 
rural  routes  in  the  whole  county.  Our  subscription  agents  report 
that  they  sometimes  run  across  thirty  to  fifty  farm  homes  in  suc- 
cession in  which  the  Republican  is  read.  During  the  last  year  we 
put  seven  hundred  new  subscribers  on  our  list,  and  over  four  hun- 
dred of  this  gain  came  voluntarily  through  the  mails  or  at  the 
office,  while  less  than  three  hundred  of  the  gain  was  received  by 
solicitation.  The  subscription  price  of  the  paper  is  now,  and  for 
the  last  fifty-four  years  has  been,  two  dollars  a  year. 

The  growth  of  the  Republican  to  a  point  where  it  has  the 
largest  circulation  of  any  county  weekly  newspaper  in  the  United 
States  has  not  been  sudden  or  miraculous.  It  has  been  the  result 
of  years  of  patient  and  painstaking  effort  to  serve  the  best  in- 
terests of  the  community.  We  have  tried  to  incorporate  in  the 
Republican  the  highest  ideals  of  newspaper  making  and  have  been 
rewarded  by  the  whole-hearted  support  of  our  people. 

What  the  Republican  has  done  in  Bureau  County,  Illinois, 
any  newspaper  can  do  in  its  particular  field.  Human  nature  is  the 
same  the  world  over  and  while  the  experiences  here  recounted 
have  been  realized  in  a  district  in  the  central  or  an  agricultural 
portion  of  the  United  States,  I  believe  they  can  be  achieved  in  any 
part  of  the  civilized  world.  If  I  were  to  attempt  to  give  any  ad- 
vice to  my  fellow  publishers  assembled  here  in  this  Congress,  it 
would  be  this :  strive  first  to  produce  the  best  newspaper  within 
your  power  and  all  things  else  will  come  unto  you.  (Applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  Chair  may  add  that  Mr.  Bailey 
practices  what  he  preaches  in  his  paper. 

MR.  MARK  COHEN:  I  would  like  to  place  before  this 
meeting  for  information  only  at  this  time  the  following  draft 
resolution : 

Membership. 

Resolved,  That  memberships  in  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  shall 
be  of  three  classes  as  follows :  (a)  individual  memberships  with  dues 
of  $5  annually  in  the  coin  of  the  United  States,  (b)  corporate  member- 
ships with  dues  of  $50  annually  in  the  coin  of  the  United  States  and  (c) 
sustaining  memberships  to  be  held  by  persons,  corporations  or  institutions 
contributing  any  amount  to  the  support  of  the  Congress. 


298      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Resolved,  further,  That  individual  or  corporate  members  shall  be  en- 
titled to  one  vote  "at  meetings  of  the  Congress  but  that  sustaining  member- 
ships shall  not  include  the  voting  power. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  report  will  be  held  over  until  to- 
morrow. 

The  Chair  presents  to  you  now  Colonel  Lawson  for  discus- 
sion of  "Preparation   for  Journalism  in  Great  Britain." 

COLONEL  LAWSON:  First  of  all,  as  Chairman  of 
the  Resolutions  Committee,  I  should  like  to  report  on  the  action 
which  has  been  taken.  Resolutions  as  subinitted  and  approved 
will  be  submitted  at  the  session  tomorrow  at  a  time  to  be  ap- 
pointed by  the  President,  and  unless  the  President  should  direct 
otherwise,  the  resolutions  will  be  taken  in  the  order  in  which  I 
read  them. 

First  of  all  comes  a  resolution  as  to  the  Constitution,  sub- 
mitted by  Mr.  Mark  Cohen. 

Next  a  resolution  proposed  by  Mr.  S.  E.  DeRackin. 

The  third  is  on  the  question  of  communications. 

The  next  was  moved  by  Mr.  McClatchy. 

Next,  a  motion  offered  by  Mr.  Sugimura. 

Next,  a  resolution  proposed  by  Mr.  Saxe. 

Next,  one  proposed  by  Mr.  Wong  of  China. 

There  is  also  the  possibility  that  two  further  resolutions  will 
be  brought  forward,  one  which  is  now  being  drafted  by  Mr.  Nieva 
of  the  Philippines  and  another  being  drafted  by  Mr.  Innes  of 
Australia,  on  the  subject  of  international  travel,  which  are  still  to 
be  submitted  to  the  Resolutions  Committee. 

The  final  resolution  is  for  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  to 
express  appreciation  of  the  hospitality  it  has  received  in  these 
islands.  I  will  not  divulge  the  wording  of  that  resolution  at  this 
moment.  It  is  moved  by  Mr.  Innes  and  seconded  by  Mr.  Glass, 
supported  by  Mr.  Tong  of  China. 

I  will  now  proceed  to  my  subject.  I  feel  that  it  is  not  quite 
right  that  I  should  be  addressing  you  on  this  subject.  I  have  al- 
ready held  the  platform  once,  but  I  have  come  a  long  way  and 
represent  many  different  institutions.  When  I  spoke  on  the  ques- 
tion of  communications  I  was  representing  the  Empire  Press 
Union.  The  Institute  of  Journalists  particularly  asked  me  to  let 
this  Congress  know  what  has  been  done  in  the  way  of  journalistic 
education  in  England  and  finds  me  the  excuse  for  addressing  you. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  299 

I  see  on  looking  through  it  that  a  great  deal  of  my  address  has 
been  struck  out  as  of  no  importance  by  the  one  Honolulu  paper  to 
which  I  gave  the  only  copy,  so  any  slight  difficulties  there  may  be 
in  my  getting  through  with  it,  you  will  understand  are  through  no 
fault  of  my  own. 

This  subject  of  journaHstic  education  is  one  which  I  ap- 
proach with  particular  interest  as  a  member  of  the  British  Insti- 
tute of  Journalists,  and  as  its  accredited  representative  to  the 
meeting  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  at  Honolulu.  The 
Institute  of  Journalists  is  a  Victorian  institution  whose  aim  and 
object  is  in  the  words  of  its  charter,  "the  promotion  of  whatever 
may  tend  to  be  the  elevation  of  the  status  and  the  improvement  of 
the  qualifications  of  all  members  of  the  journalistic  profession  and 
the  promotion  by  all  reasonable  means  of  the  interests  of  journal- 
ists and  journalism.' 

The  Institute  has  done  in  the  past  a  great  deal  of  valuable  ser- 
vice in  restoring  and  improving  such  rights  in  British  law  and 
recognition  in  the  British  social  and  political  commonwealth  as 
have  accrued  to  journalists  and  journalism  by  the  merits  of  the 
service. 

Much  of  this  story  and  its  connotation  in  the  history  of  the 
world's  press  is  already  known  to  the  President  of  this  Congress. 
With  such  a  President  and  such  a  Congress  it  may  not  be  neces- 
sary to  excuse  one's  self  for  recalling  that  at  least  by  intention  the 
Institute  of  Journalists  was  amongst  the  first — if  not  quite  the 
first — to  connect  professional  education  with  professional  associ- 
ation for  journalists.  If  our  delegation  to  Honolulu  is  not  nu- 
merous you  will  remember  with  indulgence  that  the  Institute  of 
Journalists  sent  the  largest  delegation  of  any  country  except  the 
United  States  to  the  first  World's  Congress  of  the  Press  called 
by  American  conveners.  The  President  will  be  able  to  correct  our 
history  if  it  is  at  fault  but  we  have  the  impression  that  the  School 
of  Journalism  of  the  University  of  Missouri  was  a  direct  off- 
spring of  the  World's  Congress  held  at  St.  Louis  in  the  great  ex- 
hibition year.  Having  given  such  evidence  of  good  international 
and  professional  spirit,  I  must  in  honesty  and  candor,  in  continu- 
ing to  speak  of  professional  education,  decline  upon  a  minor  key. 
For  we  have  not  yet  succeeded  in  establishing  in  any  British  uni- 
versity or  in  any  other  manner  or  connection  that  can  be  regarded 


300      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

as  sufficiently  complying  with  our  own  conception  of  the  needs 
and  opportunities  of  the  undertaking,  any  complete  system  or 
provision  of  professional  education.  We  made  powerful  and  gen- 
erous friends  among  the  leaders  of  our  press,  but  for  all  that 
our  professional  society  has  on  professional  issues  and  objects 
been  fighting  a  soldier's  battle. 

A  few  words  concerning  our  successes  and  failures  to  estab- 
lish professional  education  for  journalists  on  effective  and  per- 
manent bases  may  be  a  serviceable  contribution  to  this  debate. 

Several  of  our  universities  have  set  up  courses  of  study  shaped 
and  very  usefully  shaped  to  the  purposes  of  intending  journalists. 
But  they  have  not  hitherto  succeeded  in  enlisting  enough  of  the 
intimate,  constructive,  and  enduring  teaching  of  and  training  in 
the  technique — the  typical  actualities  of  modern  journalism — to 
enable  them  to  develop  into  schools  of  a  kind  in  any  way  com- 
parable with  the  schools  of  journalism  at  the  University  of  Mis- 
souri, at  Columbia  University,  and  at  others  of  the  American 
universities.  Most  recently  we  have  turned  with  hope  towards  a 
new  endeavor  identified  with  the  institution,  in  1919,  of  a  course 
of  journalism  at  the  University  of  London.  Such  courses  have 
been  instituted  before,  and  similar  proposals  have  been  many 
times  considered  between  the  Institute  of  Journalists  and  repre- 
sentatives of  London  and  other  British  universities.  But  the  in- 
stitution of  the  present  London  University  courses  had  two  pre- 
cipitating causes.  One  was  a  visit  to  our  institute  in  December 
1918,  of  Professor  CunlifTe  of  Columbia  University  and  one  or 
two  of  his  colleagues  of  the  American  University  schools  of 
journalism  and  when  the  subject  was  redebated  in  our  hall  against 
the  great  newspaper  offices  of  Fleet  Street  between  these  gentle- 
men, Sir  Sidney  Lee,  Dean  of  Arts  of  London  University,  and  the 
President  and  some  senior  and  official  members  of  our  body  cor- 
porate, the  University  Senate  appointed  a  journalism  committee — 
primarily  of  teachers  of  the  University  and  of  its  colleges — to 
which  our  institute  sent  representatives,  as  also  did  the  National 
Union  of  Journalists,  and  to  which  a  number  of  other  well  known 
journalists  were  elected. 

A  three  years'  course  was  devised  by  this  committee  chiefly  by 
the  personal  instrumentality  of  its  chairman,  Sir  Sidney  Lee.  This 
course  has  been  carried  through  for  the  first  time  and  the  diploma 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  301 

examination  held.  Amongst  the  students  were  many  who  had 
practical  experience  in  journalism  and  for  the  second  course  it 
appears  that  there  will  be  quite  sufficient  students  not  only  to  jus- 
tify and  require  the  continuance  of  the  undertaking,  but  to  give 
it  the  prospect  of  development  and  permanence. 

Like  all  undertakings  this  effort  of  London  University  has 
had  to  meet  with  considerable  criticism.  The  course  may  not  be 
ideal  but  the  university  does  not  claim  to  give  a  diploma  in  jour- 
nalism but  a  diploma  for  journalism.  In  its  own  words  it  strives 
"to  promote  the  efficiency  of  those  intending  to  pursue  the  pro- 
fession of  journalism."  Students  are  warned  that  before  entering 
their  first  session  they  are  expected  to  make  themselves  proficient 
in  shorthand  and  typewriting.  But  the  university  student  journal- 
ist is  still  expected  to  obtain  the  more  technical  elements  of  his 
qualification  by  practice  as  a  pupil  in  the  ordinary  duties  of  a 
member  of  the  editorial  stafif. 

Practically  nothing  of  technical  teaching  is  included  in  the 
courses.  English  composition  includes  essay  writing  and  practice 
in  writing  for  the  press,  principles  of  art  and  literary  criticism  are 
taught,  and  the  whole  system  of  teaching  has  reference  to  its 
special  application,  but  it  is  fair  to  say  that  the  London  School 
teaches  academic  and  not  technical  subjects. 

To  a  journalist  member  of  the  Joint  Committee  a  young  jour- 
nalist ex-officer  wrote,  early  in  July: 

"I  have  received  from  the  University  of  London  a  pre- 
liminary announcement  of  their  Journalism  Course,  and  I  am 
disappointed.  Instead  of  its  being  a  course  in  Journalism  it 
is  one  in  Arts  and  Science,  useful,  I  admit,  in  perfecting  one's 
general  knowledge,  but  hopelessly  out  of  place  to  a  student 
of  journalism. 

1.  Newspaper  make  up; 

2.  Comparative  journalism ; 

3.  Newspaper  direction ; 

4.  Editorial  policy  and  writing; 

5.  News  gathering  and  editing; 

6.  Principles  of  advertising; 

7.  The  County  Newspaper ; 

8.  Agricultural  journalism ; 

9.  Advanced  news  writing; 


302       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

10.  Feature  writing  and  illustration; 

11.  Rural  newspaper  management. 

These  headings  I  am  clipping  from  the  1916-1917  an- 
nouncement of  the  Missouri  School  of  Journalism  from 
where  I  am  receiving  their  treatises  on  the  different  jour- 
nalistic problems  enumerated. 

I  conceived  that  your  committee  would  rise  to  the  oc- 
casion and  give  to  the  rising  generation  some  such  course, 
instead  of  some  theoretical  nonsense,  useful  only  to  the 
special  writer. 

So  I  am  afraid  I  have  no  use  for  the  course,  much  as  I 
should  like  to  study  certain  of  the  subjects  if  I  had  the  time, 
and  was  not  the  bread-winner  of  a  wife  and  family.     Above 
all  things  I  aim  at  being  practical  in  my  studies  if  I  am  to 
attain  to  a  place  of  controlling  interest  in  the  profession." 
Subjects  taught  are  "A"   (1),  English  composition.    Two  of 
the  following  (2)  Principles  of  Criticism  (3)  History  of  Political 
Ideas    (4)    General  History  and  Development  of   Science ;  and 
three  of  the  following  (5)  EngHsh  Literature,  (6)  History  (7) 
Political  Science   (8)   Economics    (9)    Modern  Languages    (10) 
Natural    Science    (biological)     (11)    Natural    Science    (Physio- 
Chemical)  (12)  Philosophy  and  Psychology. 

Some  of  the  criticism  has  been  extremely  just — the  technical 
training  is  not  included — therein  lies  the  whole  problem  of  all 
education,  not  only  of  journalistic  education. 

I  could  not  venture  to  suggest  exactly  just  what  should  be 
the  brand  of  specialized  and  general  education  in  the  ideal  jour- 
nalistic education.  In  conjunction  with  our  own  schemes  I  have 
studied  the  curricula  of  of  Columbia  University  and  the  University 
of  Missouri  and  have  read  much  that  has  been  spoken  and  written 
on  the  subject  and  have,  I  confess,  come  back  almost  to  where  I 
started.  As  every  good  journalist  should  I  fully  recognize  the 
necessity  of  professional  education  and  I  am  here  for  information. 
I  had  very  much  hoped  that  we  should  have  the  great  privilege  of 
hearing  President  Williams  on  this  question. 

We  recognize  that  the  United  States  is  far  ahead  of  us  in  this 
matter,  and  I  am  here  to  assist  in  carrying  back  the  information 
of  what  it  is  doing.  Speaking  as  a  private  person  and  not  as  a 
delegate,  I  should  like  to  make  a  few  observations. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  303 

Journalism  recruits  the  ranks  of  her  writers  from  everywhere 
and  it  is  obviously  impossible  for  all  journalists  to  be  qualified  by 
a  test  examination  like  the  bar,  medicine  and  other  learned  pro- 
fessions. And  after  all  who  can  say  what  are  to  be  the  limits  of 
the  curricuhmi  of  the  journalists?  The  requirements  of  his  knowl- 
edge are  as  extensive  as  the  scope  of  the  paper  for  which  he 
writes.  A  knowledge  of  philosophy,  law,  history,  economics,  and 
science  are  of  great  value,  if  not  essential.  A  conversational  pro- 
ficiency in  modern  languages  in  Europe,  at  any  rate,  is  a  very 
great  asset.  If  his  knowledge  of  these  subjects  is  not  very  pro- 
found it  must  at  any  rate  be  deep  enough  for  him  to  know  where 
to  find  the  information  which  he  does  not  possess.  He  may  be 
called  upon  to  lay  down  the  law  on  any  conceivable  subject,  and 
more  is  required  of  him  than  mere  facility  of  expression. 

Above  all  in  these  courses  of  instruction  we  desire  to  achieve 
some  measures  of  success  not  only  in  promoting  the  interest  of 
the  intending  journalist,  but  to  raise  the  level  of  the  press  as  a 
whole  by  improving  the  education  of  those  who  serve  it. 

Journalism  may  not  be  literature.  Lord  Morley  was  accused 
of  saying  that  journalism  is  literature  in  a  hurry,  but  much  of 
what  is  written  in  our  daily  papers  is  not  perhaps  purely  ephem- 
eral— much  I  trust  is.  The  primary  purpose  of  a  daily  newspaper 
is  admittedly  not  the  cultivation  of  letters  but  the  presentation  of 
news,  but  I  believe  that  very  few  of  us  rightly  estimate  the  edu- 
cative value  of  the  modern  newspaper,  and  when  we  talk  of  the 
education  of  journalists  we  are  talking  of  the  education  of  per- 
haps the  only  professors  under  whom  enormous  numbers  of  our 
modern  reading  public  study.  We  must  not  be  tempted  to  regard 
our  profession  solely  as  an  industry  and  not  as  an  art.  To  write 
and  to  write  well  is  an  art.  It  is  true  that  by  overstressing  the 
technical  side  of  the  education  you  would  not  deprive  journalism 
of  its  literary  merit.  Numbers  of  journalists  will  always  go  into 
the  profession  from  the  love  of  literature  because  they  want  to 
write  and  because  they  think  they  can  write.  They  do  not  go  in 
because  they  want  to  disseminate  news.  They  do  not  even  go  in 
because  they  want  to  make  money.  Men  of  their  talents  and  abil- 
ity can  make  much  more  money  elsewhere. 

Do  not  think  that  in  discussing  this  subject  I  think  that  every 
one  who  takes  this  course  is  going  to  be  an  editor  or  a  leader 


304       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

writer.  There  are  many  of  our  profession  who  do  most  of  their 
writing  with  a  blue  pencil,  many  more  do  not  write  at  all.  But  as 
we  have  only  attempted  the  education  of  the  editorial  man,  I  con- 
fine myself  to  that.  I  think  that  we  can,  we  ought,  to  insure  that 
every  man  who  enters  the  ranks  has  the  field  marshal's  baton  in 
his  knapsack,  and  not  predestine  the  journalistic  graduate  to  finish 
his  life  as  a  sub-editor  or  reporter.  Perhaps  after  all  one  is  driven 
back  to  the  fundamental  difiference  between  the  two  schools  of 
thought  in  journalistic  education,  those  who  desire  to  turn  out 
the  finished  product  fit  to  take  his  place  in  the  economic  world, 
and  those  who  would  leave  the  greater  part  of  the  technical  edu- 
cation to  be  acquired  as  a  pupil  in  a  newspaper  office.  Nobody 
wants  to  plunge  the  boy  fresh  from  school  into  the  thick  of 
press  work  as  was  done  in  the  old  days.  But  is  it  or  is  it  not  pos- 
sible to  give  a  young  man  his  technical  education  outside  a  news- 
paper office  ?  Can  any  laboratory,  however  complete  its  organiza- 
tion and  however  real  its  conditions,  represent  what  is  required 
for  the  fevered  struggle  of  modern  competitive  journalism? 

If  you  do  not  give  the  technical  education  you  delay  the  time 
at  which  your  student  can  arrive  at  his  full  salary-earning  capac- 
ity, and  it  may  be  urged  that  the  journalistic  student  has  little 
advantage  over  the  man  who  has  received  another  form  of  final 
education. 

Against  that  he  has  the  advantage  of  the  wider  education  which 
the  other  man  may  have  received,  and  a  good  deal  of  training  be- 
sides in  its  special  application  to  the  uses  of  journalism. 

If  you  neglect  the  wider  education  you  may  have  deprived 
your  student  of  an  inestimable  advantage. 

There  is  a  certain  time  when  a  man  can  study  and  derive  the 
fullest  advantage  from  it.  A  man  is  never  too  old  to  learn  but 
there  is  a  time  when  one  prefers  to  pick  up  what  comes  to  him 
rather  than  go  out  to  get  it,  to  settle  down  to  serious  work.  And 
when  can  the  man  who  has  commenced  his  journalistic  career 
better  his  education?  Even  in  the  improved  modern  condition  of 
hours  and  work  the  general  utility  man  on  a  newspaper  has  very 
little  time  of  his  own  to  devote  to  widening  the  sphere  of  his 
knowledge. 

If  there  is  any  doubt  about  the  ideal  proportion  of  technical 
and  general  education,  I  may  be  conservative  or  even  reactionary, 


i^Mj-.^ 


JOHX  HEXRV  KESSELL,  Gladstone,  (.jueenslaxo,  Australia;  HER- 
BERT ARTHUR  DAVIE8,  Melbourne,  Australl\;  ANDREW  DL'XX, 
RocKHAMPTON.  QUEEsSLANO,  AUSTRALIA.      (Upper,  left  to  right). 

MOTOSADA  ZU.MOTO.  Tokyo.  (ctMiter.  U-ft )  ;  K.  SI'(H:\H'RA.  Tokyo. 
( center,  right ) . 

HIX  WONG,  Canton,  China;  Il()l.LiX(rrON  K.  TOXG,  Peking,  China; 
(tRP:GORIA  NIEVA,  Manila.  Philippine  Islands.  ( Eower,  left  to 
right). 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  305 

but  I  should  like  to  put  in  a  plea  for  erring  on  the  broad  side. 
Nothing  which  a  man  can  get  later  can  ever  replace  the  deeper 
training  of  the  mind  which  a  man  can  acquire  when  he  is  at  the 
receptive  age.  The  wider  a  man's  education,  the  wider  will  be  his 
sympathies  and  the  result  will  be  a  better  journalist  and  a  better 
citizen. 

There  is  another  side  of  journalistic  education  which  we  in 
England  are  not  neglecting,  the  education  of  the  man  who  is  al- 
ready in  the  profession.  Here  again  our  will  outstrips  our  accom- 
plishment but  we  are  doing  our  best.  The  Empire  Press  Union  of 
the  council  of  which  I  am  a  member  are  preparing  a  scheme  of 
travel  scholarships  for  journalists  with  reference  to  which  Mr. 
Robert  Donald  has  been  in  communication  with  the  President  of 
this  Congress  and  with  other  leaders  of  American  education. 

I  have  spoken  too  much.  This  is  a  subject  in  which  speaking 
for  myself  I  am  here  to  learn.  But  I  wished  to  assure  you  that  in 
England,  although  we  may  not  have  accomplished  much,  we  too 
have  the  best  interests  of  our  profession  at  heart  and  have  not 
neglected  the  question  of  journalistic  education.  And  when  we 
consider  this  question  we  want  to  envisage  it  on  its  very  broadest 
lines,  we  want  to  maintain  the  loftiest  conception  of  the  greatness 
of  our  profession.  We  should  consider  it  our  duty  to  leave  jour- 
nalism better  than  we  find  it.  But  we  have  a  double  duty.  We 
want  to  make  it  better  as  a  means  of  livelihood  for  the  capable 
worker,  we  want  to  give  the  man  who  wants  to  adopt  this  pro- 
fession the  best  advantages  of  entry  and  qualification,  but  more 
than  that  we  want  to  raise  journalism  to  a  higher  sphere  than  it 
has  ever  reached  before  and  make  it  better  as  an  instrument  for 
the  service  of  the  human  race.  I  should  very  much  like  to  hear 
from  President  Williams  and  hope  to  have  that  very  great  priv- 
ilege. (Applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Chair  may  be  permitted  to  disagree 
in  the  name  of  the  Congress  with  the  copy  reader  or  sub-editor  on 
the  Honolulu  newspaper  and  to  say  that  nothing  should  have  been 
struck  out  of  the  remarks  that  Colonel  Lawson  has  just  made. 

The  resolutions  which  he  read  as  coming  from  the  different 
delegates  to  the  Committee  on  Resolutions  will  be  considered  to- 
morrow morning  beginning  at  ten  o'clock  if  possible.    The  Con- 

20 


306       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

gress  will  meet  at  nine  for  other  business  preceding  the  consider- 
ation of  those  resolutions.  The  resolutions  will  be  considered  in 
the  order  suggested  by  the  committee. 

We  are  fortunate  in  having  as  our  next  speaker  the  President 
of  the  Australian  Journalists  Association,  an  organization  which 
is  distinctive  in  character  and  somewhat  different  in  accomplish- 
ment from  press  organizations  with  which  most  of  us  are  ac- 
quainted. I  have  genuine  pleasure  in  presenting  to  you  at  this  time, 
Mr.  H.  A.  Davies,  of  the  Melbourne  Argus,  the  President 
of  the  Australian  Journalists  Association. 

MR.  DAVIES :  In  dealing  with  the  subject  of  what  prepa- 
ration is  desirable  for  journalism  one  cannot  lay  down  hard  and 
fast  rules.  Where  there  is  a  natural  aptitude  for  the  profession, 
little  preparation  beyond  a  sound  education  is  necessary.  But  even 
the  man  or  woman  who  has  a  flair  for  newspaper  work  can  be 
wonderfully  improved  by  a  course  of  study  in  suitable  subjects.  It 
is  obvious  that  the  gift  known  in  the  newspaper  world  as  a  "nose 
for  news"  cannot  be  developed,  but  a  very  good  imitation  can  be 
obtained  by  a  newspaper  man  who  realizes  that  this  sense  is  lack- 
ing and  who  resolutely  sets  out  to  acquire  a  procedure  to  be  adopt- 
ed in  any  set  of  circumstances.  Thus  he  equips  himself  to  meet 
any  emergency  and  protects  himself  against  leaving  any  avenue 
of  inquiry  unexplored.  The  art  of  writing  correct  English  in  an 
attractive  form  can  also  be  acquired  by  one  who  is  not  born  with 
gift  of  writing  brilliant  descriptive  matters.  The  Australian  Jour- 
nalists Association,  over  which  I  have  the  honor  to  preside,  and 
which  includes  among  its  members  editors,  leader  writers,  re- 
porters, authors,  press  artists,  press  photographers,  licensed  short- 
hand writers,  and  members  of  the  parliamentary  Hansard  staffs, 
having  devoted  the  earlier  years  of  its  existence  to  improving  the 
conditions  of  journalism  in  Australia  is  now  actively  engaged  in 
improving  the  journalists  themselves.  Exhaustive  investigations 
have  been  made  into  the  best  course  of  study  for  journalists  to 
pursue,  and,  while  we  do  not  claim  that  anything  like  perfection 
has  been  reached  we  do  believe  that  as  the  result  of  our  efforts 
substantial  progress  has  been  made  along  the  road  to  higher  efifi- 
ciency.  This  belief  is  buttressed  by  comments  made  by  Lord 
Northclifife  during  his  recent  visit  to  Australia. 

In  the  course  of  my  paper  I  shall  refer  to  the  work  being  done 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  307 

in  the  various  states  which  form  the  Commonwealth  of  Australia 
and  in  order  that  members  of  the  Congress  may  properly  under- 
stand the  position  I  propose  at  first  to  give  a  brief  description  of 
the  Australian  Journalists  Association  which  occupies  a  unique 
position  in  the  newspaper  world.  Previous  to  1911  newspaper 
work  in  Australia  was  not  attractive.  The  salaries  paid  (except  on 
one  or  two  of  the  leading  metropolitan  journals)  were  small,  men 
were  required  to  work  inordinately  long  hours  and  there  was 
little  opportunity  for  home  or  social  life.  It  was  realized  that  in 
offices  where  the  men  worked  reasonable  hours  and  received  fair 
remuneration  the  proprietors  carried  on  at  a  considerable  dis- 
advantage compared  with  papers  which,  by  paying  low  wages  and 
working  long  hours,  produced  a  cheaper  publication.  Therefore 
in  1911  the  Australian  Journalists  Association  was  formed.  The 
new  body  made  rapid  progress  and  by  its  efforts  the  lot  of  the 
newspaper  man  has  not  only  been  made  more  comfortable,  but 
the  general  standard  of  efficiency  among  Australian  journalists 
has  been  raised. 

The  Australian  Journalists  Association  is  a  federal  body  with 
districts  in  each  state,  governed  by  a  state  or  district  committee, 
which  is  responsible  to  a  Federal  Council  meeting  once  a  year. 
The  executive  work,  where  it  is  not  delegated  to  a  district,  is  car- 
ried on  by  a  federal  executive  committee,  upon  which  each  state 
is  represented,  and  which  meets  weekly  in  Melbourne,  the  head- 
quarters of  the  association.  The  new  association  upon  its  forma- 
tion was  registered  under  the  Commonwealth  Conciliation  and 
Arbitration  Act,  a  course  later  followed  by  ship  captains  and 
officers,  actors  and  medical  officers  in  the  employ  of  the  Federal 
Quarantine  and  Health  departments.  The  objects  of  the  associa- 
tion are: 

(A)  To  combine  the  journalists  and  allied  press  workers  of 
Australia  so  that  the  Association  may  represent  them  or  act  for 
them  in  any  matters  connected  with  their  calling. 

(B)  To  encourage  and  where  possible  initiate  whatever  may 
tend  towards  the  improvement  of  the  status,  training  and  quali- 
fications of  all  classes  of  journalists. 

(C)  To  formulate  in  so  far  as  may  be  found  desirable  pro- 
fessional usages  and  customs  of  journalists ;  and  to  formulate, 
protect  and  extend  when  necessary  the  beneficial  privileges  of  the 
press. 


308       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

(D)  To  mediate  in  regard  to,  and,  if  possible,  to  reconcile 
disputes  affecting  members  of  the  association. 

(E)  To  watch  all  legislative  or  other  proposals  which  may- 
affect  journalists  in  the  discharge  of  their  professional  duties. 

(F)  To  devise  a  scheme  or  system  of  providence  against  age, 
sickness,  death,  misfortune  or  unemployment. 

(G)  To  regulate  and  protect  the  conditions  of  work  and  the 
relation  between  employers  and  employees ;  to  provide  legal  as- 
sistance in  defense  of  the  rights  of  members ;  to  promote  the  gen- 
eral welfare  of  members  and  to  improve  the  relations  between 
employers  and  employees. 

(H)  To  take  advantage  of  the  machinery  provided  by  legis- 
lation for  the  prevention  and  settlement  of  industrial  disputes. 

The  association  has  no  political  faith.  Naturally,  it  could 
not  as  its  members  include  journalists  employed  on  newspapers 
of  every  political  faith.   Its  sole  aim  is  the  welfare  of  journalism. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  newly  formed  organization  was  to 
meet  in  conference  the  proprietors  of  the  newspapers  published  in 
the  six  capital  cities  of  the  Commonwealth,  and  an  agreement  was 
entered  into  which  assured  to  the  newspaper  man  a  fixed  amount 
of  leisure  time  in  each  week.  This  agreement  was  subsequently 
amended  by  an  award  of  the  Commonwealth  Arbitration  Court  in 
which  the  deputy  president  (a  justice  of  the  High  Court  of  Aus- 
tralia) considered  the  position  adopted  by  the  association  so 
reasonable  that  he  granted  the  claims  in  full.  In  Australia  nowa- 
days, the  newspaper  man  works  46  hours  in  each  week  (40  hours 
if  constantly  employed  after  midnight),  receives  one  and  a  half 
days  off  in  each  week  and  three  weeks  holiday  on  full  pay  each 
year.  This  concession  has  a  direct  bearing  upon  the  subject  of 
this  paper,  for  it  ensures  to  the  journalist  who  is  undertaking  the 
course  of  study  we  have  arranged  at  the  universities,  a  fixed 
amount  of  leisure  time  in  each  week.  A  tired  brain  refuses  to 
coin  bright  and  feeling  phrases  and  the  beneficial  effect  on  rea- 
sonably short  hours  has  been  recognized  by  Lord  Northcliffe, 
who  is  one  of  the  most  successful  newspaper  proprietors  in  the 
world.  Speaking  at  a  reception  given  him  by  the  Australian 
Journalists  Association  in  Melbourne  last  month  he  said:  "I  was 
the  first  newspaper  proprietor  in  England  to  introduce  the  five 


I 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  309 

days  week  for  my  staff.  I  have  found  that  short  hours  make 
bright  newspapers." 

Owing  to  the  infinitely  varied  nature  of  the  work  performed 
by  newspaper  staffs,  it  was  found  to  be  impossible  to  classify  the 
duties,  so  a  system  was  adopted  of  dividing  the  staffs  into  fifths. 
Three-fifths  of  the  newspaper  staffs  are  senior  reporters — men 
capable  of  performing  any  function — one-fifth  are  general  re- 
porters and  one-fifth  junior  reporters.  Cadets,  or  young  men  in 
training  as  journalists,  are  allowed  in  the  proportion  of  one  to 
every  five  members  of  the  classified  staff.  The  minimum  salaries 
payable  (taking  the  normal  rate  of  exchange  of  $4.86  to  the 
pound)  are — isenior  reporters,  $46.00  a  week,  generals  $40.00  a 
week  and  juniors  $30.00  a  week.  It  must  be  remembered  that  these 
are  the  minimum  rates.  Good  men  command  substantially  higher 
salaries  and  on  most  all  of  the  newspapers  are  men  receiving  above 
the  minimum.  In  the  case  of  the  Melbourne  Herald,  whose  asso- 
ciate editor  (Mr.  Guy  Innes)  is  present  at  this  Congress,  every 
member  of  the  staff  receives  a  salary  in  excess  of  the  minimum. 

This  is  a  brief  resume  of  the  principal  work  performed  by  our 
association  in  improving  the  conditions  of  journalism  in  Aus- 
tralia. It  gives  me  great  pleasure  to  say  that  all  this  has  been 
achieved  without  generating  any  bitterness.  The  relations  between 
the  proprietaries  of  the  newspapers  and  the  Australian  Journalists 
Association  are  most  cordial.  In  fact  one  of  my  close  friends  is 
a  man  whom  I  am  sometimes  called  upon  to  meet  on  the  other 
side  of  the  conference  table.  The  whole  aim  of  the  Australian 
Journalists  Association  is  to  raise  the  standard  of  journalism  and 
to  make  the  profession  one  that  will  attract  to  it  young  men  of 
ability  and  to  insure  that  that  ability  will  meet  with  its  reward. 

During  the  past  three  years  the  Australian  Journalists  Asso- 
ciation has  devoted  much  time  to  the  improvement  of  journalists 
themselves.  In  May,  1919,  a  committee  of  the  Association  con- 
ducted an  exhaustive  inquiry  into  the  question  of  the  higher  edu- 
cation of  journalists.  Opinions  were  obtained  from  university 
professors,  newspaper  editors,  leading  journalists,  commercial 
men,  and  publicists  and  the  results,  with  the  recommendations  of 
the  committee,  have  been  embodied  in  a  pamphlet.  I  have  copies 
of  this  pamphlet  with  me  and  will  be  pleased  to  give  one  to  any 


310      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

delegate  who  is  interested  in  the  subject.  After  considering  the 
report,  the  Austrahan  JournaHsts  Association  made  the  following 
recommendations :  That  efforts  be  made  to  secure  the  establish- 
ment of  a  course  for  journalists  at  each  of  the  Australian  uni- 
versities, that  the  course  be  as  nearly  as  possible  identical  with  the 
arts  course  with  the  addition  of  lectures  and  examinations  in 
journalism,  and  that  the  classes  be  open  to  matriculated  students 
and  to  all  other  persons  of  adequate  scholastic  attainments. 

Immediately  the  various  district  committees  set  to  work 
and  the  following  schemes  are  now  in  operation : 

Victoria. 

Negotiations  between  the  Victoria  district  and  the  authorities 
of  the  Melbourne  University  were  successful,  a  course  upon  the 
completion  of  which  a  diploma  of  journalism  will  be  granted, 
being  agreed  upon.  A  number  of  journalists  are  now  taking  this 
course.  Matriculation  is  not  required  but  the  students  before 
being  permitted  to  embark  upon  the  course  are  examined  by  a 
joint  committee  of  the  University  stafif  and  the  Australian  Journal- 
ists Association  which  decides  upon  the  fitness  of  the  can- 
didates. 

The  subjects  to  be  passed  before  the  diploma  is  granted  are : 
English,  three  subjects  of  the  history  or  economics  group  for  the 
B.  A.  degree  and  two  other  subjects  in  the  course  for  the  B.  A. 
degree.  After  completing  the  six  subjects  set  out  above  the  stu- 
dent must  pass  a  test  in  practical  journalism  and  must  also  show 
evidence  of  at  least  four  years  experience  in  newspaper  work. 
The  requirement  is  a  wide  selection  of  subjects  as  follows: 

Group  1 :  Greek,  Latin,  English,  French,  German,  the  science 
of  language  and  comparative  philology,  English  language  and 
philosophy. 

Group  2:  (History  and  political  science)  British  History, 
European  history,  ancient  history,  political  economy,  modern 
political  institutions,  sociology. 

Group  3:  (Philosophy  and  pure  mathematics,  (psychology, 
logic  and  ethics,  history  of  philosophy,  advanced  logic,  advanced 
ethics,  metaphysics  and  pure  mathematics. 

Group  4:  (Science)  Mixed  mathematics,  natural  philosophy, 
chemistry,  zoology,  botany,  and  geology. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  311 

QUEIENSLAND. 

In  this  state  also  the  district  committee  of  the  Australia 
JournaHsts  Association  has  arranged  for  a  special  course  of 
study  for  journalists  extending  over  at  least  two  years  and  on 
tie  successful  completion  of  which  a  diploma  of  journalism 
will  be  granted  upon  the  production  of  a  certificate  from 
the  Australian  Journalists  Association  that  the  candidates 
have  satisfactorily  come  through  three  years'  practical  expe- 
rience in  journalism.  Admission  to  the  course  is  by  applica- 
tion to  a  joint  committee  of  the  Australia  Journalists  Associa- 
tion and  the  University  Senate.  The  course  comprises  four 
single  subjects  and  not  more  than  two  may  be  attempted  in  any 
one  year.  They  are,  English,  British  history  (or  an  alternative 
course),  economics,  including  economic  history  and  one  only 
of  the  following:  Latin,  Greek,  French,  German,  constitutional 
history,  political  science,  ancient  history,  logic  and  psychology, 
ethics  and  metaphysics,  pure  mathematics,  applied  mathematics, 
biology,   chemistry,   geology  and   mineralogy,   physics. 

Western  Australia 

By  arrangement  with  the  West  Australian  District  of  the 
Australian  Journalists  Association  the  Perth  University  has 
instituted  a  special  course  for  journalists.  Two  lectures  a  week 
are  given  but  there  is  no  examination  at  the  end  of  the  course 
nor  is  any  degree  or  diploma  granted.  Arrangements  have  also 
been  made  for  members  of  the  association  in  the  country  towns 
to  be  supplied  with  synopses  of  the  lectures.  The  district  has 
also  established  a  library  from  which  those  attending  the  course 
may  obtain  the  text  and  reference  books  recommended  by  the  lec- 
turers. 

New  South  Wales 

Lectures  are  also  given  in  New  South  Wales  but  here  again 
there  is  no  examination.  English  literature  is  mainly  dealt  with, 
each  lecture  lasting  an  hour,  after  which  there  is  a  discussion  for 
another  hour  upon  the  subject  of  the  lecture.  In  the  progressive 
series  of  lectures  already  given,  writers  from  Shakespeare  to 
the  leading  writers  of  the  present  day,  have  been  discussed. 


312      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

In  the  other  states  it  has  not  yet  been  found  possible  to  in- 
stitute courses,  the  university  authorities  in  some  cases  not  being 
favorably  disposed  towards  the  scheme.  It  will  be  seen,  how- 
ever, that  much  work  is  being  done  in  Australia  to  encourage 
and  assist  the  working  journalist  to  increase  his  store  of  knowl- 
edge. It  is  obvious  that  a  purely  academic  course  will  not  in 
itself  fit  any  young  man  for  a  position  on  the  press,  but  when 
practical  experience  in  the  rough  and  tumble  of  newspaper  work 
is  fortified  by  a  wide  knowledge  of  such  subjects  as  literature, 
economics,  history,  French  and  one  of  the  sciences  the  journalist 
must  of  necessity  be  better  equipped  for  his  work.  That  the 
systems  which  have  been  adopted  in  Australia  have  not  been 
without  result  is  shown  by  a  statement  made  by  Lord  North- 
clifife  in  Melbourne  when  he  said :  "The  level  of  efficiency  of 
reporters  in  Australia  is  very  high.  So  far  as  I  am  aware, 
have  not  once  been,  misreported  since  I  have  been  in  the  Com- 
monwealth." Some  weeks  later  in  a  speech  at  Brisbane  he  said: 
"I  have  not  seen  any  'go-slow'  in  Australian  newspaper  offices. 
Most  of  the  offices  are  as  good  as  any  we  have  in  England,  con- 
sidering the  populations  you  have  to  deal  with.  I  have  been 
in  the  offices  of  your  great  newspapers  in  Melbourne  and  Sydney 
and  they  are  equally  efficient.  The  whole  tone  of  the  press  in 
Australia  is  on  a  very  high  plane  and  the  editorial  articles  are 
just  as  well  written  as  in  England."  These  words  are  very  en- 
couraging to  our  association  and  are  a  striking  testimony  to  the 
success  of  its  efforts  to  improve  the  status  and  qualifications  of 
its  members. 

There  is  another  factor  in  the  training  of  journalists,  that  is, 
travel.  This  opens  up  a  wide  field  for  discussion  and  I  will  not 
attempt  to  deal  with  it  fully  in  this  paper.  But  I  would  like 
to  suggest  to  this  Congress  that  it  should  discuss  proposals  for 
the  frequent  interchange  of  journalists  between  the  various  coun- 
tries, particularly  between  America  and  Australia.  It  is  my  be- 
lief that  many  misunderstandings  and  misconceptions  would  be 
avoided  if  we  had  a  better  knowledge  of  one  another's  afifairs. 
It  might  be  possible  for  a  newspaper  proprietary  in  New  York, 
Chicago,  or  other  large  cities  to  arrange  with  a  Melbourne  or 
Sydney  newspaper  to  exchange  bright  young  men  at  yearly  or 
two-yearly  intervals.     If  the  selection  be  delegated  to  the  Aus- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  313 

tralia  Journalists  Association  (as  was  the  selection  of  the  Of- 
ficial Australian  Correspondent  and  Historian  of  the  War)  I 
can  assure  the  congress  that  none  but  the  best  will  be  sent.  Bet- 
ter mutual  understandings,  thus  fostered  through  those  who  in- 
form the  public,  will  strengthen  the  bonds  of  friendship  between 
the  two  countries  and  will  also  make  for  greater  knowledge  and 
efificiency  on  the  part  of  the  journalists  concerned.  (Applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Chair  may  be  permitted  to  remark 
that  even  more  could  be  said  in  praise  of  this  work  in  Australia 
than  its  president  has  just  said  to  us. 

We  have  had  the  privilege  of  hearing  a  representative  of 
China  coming  from  Peking  in  North  China,  and  another  repre- 
sentative from  Shanghai,  which  is  an  international  settlement  in 
mid-China ;  now  we  have  the  third  representative  of  this  great 
country,  who  comes  from  Canton,  South  China,  He  is  the 
editor  of  the  Star  of  Canton  and  the  representative  in  Canton 
of  the  Associated  Press  and  of  Reuters, — the  first  Chinese,  I 
think,  to  be  appointed  to  so  important  a  position  by  news  serv- 
ices.   I  present  Mr.  Hin  Wong  of  Canton,  China. 

MR.  WONG:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  I  have 
been  requested  by  the  Chinese  delegation  to  thank  the  Congress 
for  the  time  allotted  to  them,  and  also  to  say  that  we  very  much 
appreciate  the  many  kind  words  spoken  by  the  Japanese  delega- 
tion regarding  China. 

The  subject  I  am  to  speak  on  this  morning  is,  "Why  Not  a 
Journalistic  Mission  to  China?" 

China  must  get  into  the  world  or  the  world  will  get  into  it. 
China  must  decide  to  assume  her  responsibility  in  the  world  in 
accordance  with  her  power,  position,  and  ability,  or  she  will 
be  forced  to  do  so  by  others  in  manners  detrimental  to  her  sta- 
tion and  interest.  To  ascend  to  her  rightful  place  in  the  family 
of  nations,  while  she  should  chiefly  rely  upon  her  own  people, 
China  cannot  afford  to  refuse  encouragement  and  guidance  from 
friends  abroad. 

Friends  of  China  are  assisting  her  in  various  ways,  especially 
through  the  many  religious  and  scientific  missions  now  operat- 
ing in  the  diflferent  centers  of  the  RepubHc.  They  are  adopt- 
ing a  very  wise  policy.    They  try  to  impart  into  the  Chinese  what 


314       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  West  knows  and  extract  from  this  ancient  race  the  best  it 
possesses,  always  working  in  co-operation  with  the  Chinese 
people  themselves,  so  that  the  knowledge  of  one  nation  may  be 
shared  by  many  and  the  achievement  of  a  few  be  an  inspiration 
to  all. 

The  world  is  meeting  China  half-way  in  her  struggle  to  ad- 
vance towards  the  higher  position  from  which  she  may  render 
her  service  as  a  great  and  influential  power.  And  many  indi- 
viduals and  organizations  are  either  thinking,  talking,  or  writing 
of  her  problems  at  home  or  actually  laboring  for  her  welfare  on 
her  own  field. 

Aside  from  the  labors  of  the  Christian  mission  seeking  to 
echo  back  to  Asia  the  Oriental  message  of  universal  brother- 
hood and  unselfish  service,  there  are  many  departments  of  ac- 
tivities now  at  work  in  China  under  the  auspices  of  foreign  or- 
ganizations or  by  joint  management  of  foreigners  and  Chinese. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  Chinese  will  welcome  all  co-opera- 
tion in  matters  of  social  reform  and  education  and  matters  tend- 
ing to  promote  international  friendship  and  commerce  and  in- 
dustry. 

British  merchants  and  manufacturers  have  established  courses 
in  engineering  and  commerce  in  the  Hongkong  University  for 
the  purpose  of  training  and  enabling  Young  China  to  apply  the 
intelligence  and  ability  of  the  race  to  the  development  of  Chinese 
resources  as  far  as  possible  in  the  light  of  modern  learning  and 
foreign  experience.  The  Pennsylvania,  the  Kansas,  and  other 
American  State  Colleges  are  co-operating  with  institutions  in 
China  in  the  study  of  Western  and  Chinese  systems  of  agricul- 
ture and  forestry,  while  the  Yale  and  other  Universities  have 
branches  in  China  to  teach  medical  science  and  institute  re- 
searches regarding  Chinese  medicine.  In  Shanghai,  the  largest 
port  in  China,  there  is  a  school  with  courses  in  law  and  po- 
litical science  which  are  taught  by  capable  British  and  American 
lawyers.  The  Rockefeller  Foundation  from  America  has  just 
inaugurated  a  scheme  in  Peking  for  the  spread  of  medical  edu- 
cation in  China,  opening  a  school  and  a  hospital  with  an  equip- 
ment second  to  none  in  the  world.  The  Chinese-American  Edu- 
cational Mission,  made  possible  through  the  remission  by  the 
United  States  of  the  Boxer  Indemnity,  is  being  followed  by  the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  315 

organization  of  a  Chinese-French  Educational  Society,  through 
which  many  hundred  Chinese  students  are  now  studying  in  col- 
leges in  France.  Seattle  and  other  leading  cities  of  the  world 
are  making  arrangements  through  which  Chinese  students  abroad 
may  obtain  practical  experience  in  their  shops  and  offices  after 
graduation  from  schools  before  returning  to  China  to  take  up 
their  life  work,  and  some  well-known  firms — Chinese  and  for- 
eign— in  China  are  supporting  students  in  English  and  American 
colleges  in  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States.  The  Interna- 
tional Silk  Association  with  offices  in  New  York  is  financing  a 
course  in  sericulture  in  Canton  Christian  College,  while  foreign 
architects  sent  by  foreign  governments  or  missions  to  China 
to  design  consular  buildings  or  school  houses  are  doing  great 
service  by  utilizing  native  materials  and  skill  in  working  out 
Western  ideas  and  thus  harmonizing  the  East  and  the  West  in 
an  important  development  of  the  arts  and  sciences  at  the  same 
time  proving  that  Chinese  and  foreigners  can  work  together. 
Exchange  of  professors  between  Chinese  and  American  schools 
has  begun  to  develop  as  a  promising  medium  of  intercourse  in 
the  intellectual  field ;  and  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  the  Red  Cross,  and 
other  religious  and  philanthropic  agencies  are  greatly  helping  the 
world  to  better  appreciate  the  moral  assistance  needed  by  the 
Chinese. 

In  addition  to  what  has  been  mentioned,  the  occasional  in- 
dustrial and  parliamentary  missions  from  foreign  countries  to 
China  are  also  helping  the  world  to  better  understand  China. 

It  is  safe  to  assume  that,  while  special  missions  for  par- 
ticular purposes  have  their  value  both  for  China  and  for  the 
benefit  of  the  world  at  large,  the  different  peoples  must  be  brought 
closer  to  China  through  every  day  reading  and  every  day  life. 

Much  injustice  has  been  done  to  China  because  of  ignorance 
of  Chinese  conditions  on  the  part  of  foreigners  and  of  the  fail- 
ure on  the  part  of  Chinese  leaders  to  make  her  cause  and  aspira- 
tions understood  by  the  world.  Much  misconception  regarding 
things  Chinese  exists,  and  it  is  high  time  that  definite  steps  should 
be  taken  by  Chinese  and  others  interested  to  bring  to  the  at- 
tention of  the  world  the  existence  of  a  great  people  with  incal- 
culable natural  resources  capable  of  bringing  peace,  prosperity, 
and  happiness  to  mankind  if  properly  developed  and  appreciated 


316      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

or  curse  and  war  to  the  world  if  misunderstood  and  mistreated. 

The  Chinese  are  hoping  that  better  means  and  faciHties  may 
be  devised  and  greater  effort  made  by  their  own  leaders  and 
friends  to  bring  Chinese  news  and  views  uncolored  and  unprej- 
udiced before  the  world,  to  advertise  Chinese  goods  and  products 
abroad,  to  have  the  best  Chinese  thought  interpreted  to  other 
peoples,  to  correct  misconceptions  regarding  China,  to  enlist 
more  admirers  and  supporters  for  the  Chinese  people  among 
the  leaders  of  all  circles  in  the  West,  to  give  prospective  vis- 
itors to  China  advance  information,  to  keep  Chinese  people  at 
home  and  abroad  better  informed  regarding  the  political,  ec- 
onomic, social,  educational  progress  of  the  world,  to  provide 
Chinese  merchants  and  manufacturers  with  world  intelligence  on 
commerce  and  finance  so  as  to  assist  them  in  the  extension  of 
their  trade  abroad,  to  gather  for  Chinese  and  foreign  publications 
information  which  cannot  easily  be  obtained  through  private  and 
individual  efforts,  and  to  supplement  some  of  the  work  already 
initiated  by  learned  societies  and  special  agencies. 

It  is  recognized  that,  under  present  conditions  and  with  lim- 
ited resources,  the  Chinese  press  is  unable  to  open  expensive  and 
extensive  news  agencies  in  the  Far  East,  Europe,  and  America 
with  representatives  in  the  leading  capitals  and  cities  to  supply 
Chinese  information  to  the  foreign  press  or  send  home  important 
news  of  events  affecting  world  interest  and  China  in  particular 
and  political  movements  with  which  Chinese  statesmen  and  pub- 
lic men  should  be  in  touch.  The  Chinese  have  realized  the  value 
of  all  this  but  they  do  not  possess  as  yet  the  means  and  facilities 
to  encourage  and  interest  Chinese  scholars  and  specialists  to  con- 
tribute to  foreign  newspapers  and  magazines  on  Chinese  sub- 
jects or  to  translate  from  articles  of  the  foreign  press  valuable 
to  Chinese  trade  or  politics. 

Very  little  has  yet  been  done  to  arrange  for  Chinese  and  foreign 
schools  to  exchange  student  publications  and  for  the  printing 
of  Chinese  matters  in  the  country  or  provincial  press  of  the  lead- 
ing nations  of  the  world,  in  spite  of  the  general  admission  that 
the  common  mass  in  the  West  and  the  East  must  be  brought  to- 
gether before  real  friendship  between  different  peoples  can  be 
assured  and  maintained.  It  is  a  fact  that,  while  many  progres- 
sive enterprises  of  the  people  and  notable  acts  of  the  Chinese 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  317 

leaders  and  officials  are  not  reported  in  the  press,  their  mis- 
takes and  errors  are  circulated  throughout  the  world  by  agencies 
unfriendly  to  China  and  not  seldom  for  political  and  selfish  pur- 
pose. 

There  are  cases  in  which  first-class  Chinese  goods  are  being 
sold  as  inferior  and  superior  articles  listed  as  second-class  be- 
cause of  lack  of  systematic  watching  and  advertising  abroad. 
And  some  of  the  merchants  of  one  country  will  counterfeit  the 
trade-marks  of  those  of  another  in  China  in  order  to  promote 
the  trade  of  a  particular  country  to  the  detriment  of  others. 
This  is  possible  because  of  the  inability  of  the  Chinese  to  dis- 
tinguish the  many  foreign  articles  and  many  trade-marks.  While 
names  of  foreign  firms  seeking  connection  with  Chinese  importers 
and  exporters  may  sometimes  be  obtained  from  foreign  con- 
sulates, a  well-balanced  and  extensive  international  trade  di- 
rectory including  Chinese  merchants  and  firms  cannot  be  found. 
Improvements  of  Chinese  goods  and  products  as  desired  and 
demanded  by  foreign  merchants  do  not  come  to  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  Chinese  merchants  and  manufacturers  mostly  con- 
cerned. The  best  Chinese  literature  in  arts  and  thought  has  not 
yet  been  translated  for  the  benefit  of  the  world.  The  good  side 
as  well  as  the  bad  must  be  seen  before  admiring  and  respecting 
Chinese  ancient  learning.  And  books  written  by  foreigners  on 
Chinese  questions  are  often  left  unnoticed  by  Chinese  from  the 
Chinese  point  of  view,  not  to  speak  of  having  them  translated  into 
the  Chinese.  It  is  surely  necessary  that  an  expression  of  opinion, 
views  and  comment,  should  be  made  by  those  most  concerned  in 
matters  sometimes  involving  their  national  honor  and  territory. 

Chinese  must  know  more  about  other  people  and  be  known 
by  them  in  order  to  interest  a  large  number  of  foreigners  to  visit 
China  and  bring  them  periodically,  if  possible,  for  conference 
and  study  on  particular  subjects.  This  is  necessary  if  Chinese 
are  to  have  more  personal  intercourse  with  leaders  from  all 
parts  of  the  world  or  to  accept  the  invitation  from  other  coun- 
tries for  visits  of  Chinese  leaders  in  order  to  properly  discuss 
Chinese  foreign  questions. 

It  is  most  desirable  and  will  be  of  advantage  to  both  China 
and  the  world  for  a  body  like  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World 
to  appoint  or  request  the  greater  news  agencies  or  press  associa- 


318       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

tions  of  representative  countries  to  constitute  a  commission  to 
look  into  the  condition,  extent,  methods,  and  purposes  of  the  sev- 
eral news  agencies,  foreign  and  Chinese,  now  operating  in  China 
and  the  facilities  now  being  offered  by  the  cable  and  telegraph 
companies  and  the  concessions  given,  if  any,  by  the  governments 
protecting  the  services.  Inquiries  might  be  made  to  ascertain  if 
the  more  resourceful  and  greater  press  associations  or  individual 
newspapers  interested  in  the  publication  of  Chinese  news  abroad 
and  the  transmission  of  foreign  information  into  China  would 
organize  a  permanent  international  press  service  with  head- 
quarters in  Shanghai  or  some  other  large  Chinese  city  to  un- 
dertake publicity  work  in  all  parts  of  the  world  in  accordance 
with  the  desire  of  the  Chinese  and  as  demanded  by  the  foreign 
public  for  accurate  presentation  and  fair  interpretation  of  Chinese 
news  and  views. 

The  leading  news  agencies  of  the  world  are  now  already 
maintaining  correspondents  in  China  and  are  also  employing 
Chinese  in  their  service  to  a  more  or  less  extent.  Some  of 
them  furnish  foreign  news  to  the  Chinese  press.  While  the 
Chinese  appreciate  the  service  now  provided  them  by  the  foreign 
agencies,  they  cannot  honestly  admit  that  everything  supplied 
is  welcomed.  It  cannot  be  denied  that  some  of  the  information 
furnished  to  the  press  in  China  is  greatly  distorted  and  wrotigly 
interpreted  for  a  variety  of  reasons.  It  must  be  pointed  out, 
however,  that  the  majority  of  the  agencies  now  at  work  in  China 
is  not  inspired  by  improper  motives.  And  it  is  true  to  say  that 
the  country  whose  press  agents  are  the  most  unfair  and  least 
accurate  is  the  most  distrusted  by  the  Chinese.  Some  of  the 
propaganda  methods  used  by  more  than  one  people  represented 
in  China  during  the  World  War  in  order  to  gain  Chinese  sup- 
port and  sympathy  are  being  copied  by  the  Chinese  in  their 
present  civil  war,  and  the  value  of  these  methods  is  still  a  subject 
of  doubt. 

An  impartial  and  international  press  service,  organized  to 
cover  the  affairs  of  one-fourth  of  the  world's  population  for 
the  benefit  of  the  other  three-fourths  would  discourage  unreliable 
information,  minimize  distortion,  and  exclude  the  inefficient  and 
partisan  news  agencies  now  rendering  free  service  to  the  Chinese 
press.     And  such  a  service  might  continue  to  function  until  the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  319 

Chinese  themselves  should  have  the  experience,  ability,  and  re- 
source to  direct  it  independently  and  create  a  public  opinion 
capable  of  discriminating  and  judging  all  the  reports  coming  into 
the  country  from  outside. 

Foreign  advertising  experts  and  impartial  news  correspond- 
ents in  China  would  have  no  difficulty  in  adjusting  their  ways 
to  conform  to  the  general  policy  to  be  adopted  by  an  associated 
international  press  service,  as  special  fields  still  require  special 
information.  A  general  book  on  physiology  and  hygiene,  writ- 
ten in  popular  language  intended  for  public  circulation,  cannot 
destroy  the  value  of  a  technical  work  for  medical  and  scientific 
students. 

The  policy  of  the  Open  Door  in  China  must  be  openly  di- 
rected and  discussed  with  equal  facilities  and  given  equal  at- 
tention by  all  parts  of  the  world,  and  any  attempt  to  disregard 
and  misinterpret  it  by  a  particular  nation  for  selfish  motive  must 
be  resisted  by  all  seeking  to  have  relationship  with  the  Chinese 
people.  Pacific  problems  must  be  solved  through  pacific  means; 
and  as  the  Chinese  form  the  greater  part  of  the  Pacific  popula- 
tion, no  solution  of  Pacific  problems  will  be  satisfactory  with- 
out their  full  knowledge  and  hearty  support.  Satisfactory  re- 
organization of  Europe  and  her  reconstruction  will  not  prevent 
another  great  world  war;  and  peace  will  be  better  assured  only 
when  China  also  appreciates  her  position  and  possibility  in  the 
service  of  mankind.  It  is  unwise  to  keep  China  in  ignorance  of 
world  affairs  and  progress  and  take  no  heed  of  her  latent  power ; 
and  further  delay  on  the  part  of  China  to  co-operate  with  the 
world  in  its  many  problems  and  demands  will  be  dangerous 
not  only  to  herself  but  also  to  every  nation  in  the  group.  The 
ability  to  support  one  another  depends  on  the  amount  of  knowl- 
edge one  has  of  the  other. 

A  journalistic  mission  to  China  has,  in  fact,  been  started  in 
a  small  way,  following  more  or  less  on  the  principle  of  the 
medical  and  agricultural  missions  to  China  from  the  foreign  col- 
leges and  universities.  Many  journalists,  trained  in  the  Univer- 
sity of  Missouri,  have  accepted  the  claim  of  President  Walter 
Williams  that  journalism  has  a  world  mission  and  is  a  public 
service.  They  are  now  engaged  in  this  profession  in  the  large 
cities  in  China,  Japan,  and  the  Philippines ;  and  a  group  of  them, 


320      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

including  a  few  Chinese,  are  controlling  and  editing  at  least  one 
publication  of  international  influence,  although  it  deals  principally 
in  Chinese  and  Far  Eastern  questions  for  the  information  of 
people  outside  as  well  as  inside  China.  It  may  not  take  long  for 
the  enterprising  graduates  of  this  institution  to  initiate  a  course 
in  journalism  in  connection  with  some  larger  schools  in  China, 
as  some  graduates  of  Yale  have  founded  a  medical  college  in 
this  country.  Graduates  of  Missouri  have  organized  the  first 
advertising  club  in  China  and  were  the  first  advertising  experts 
to  interest  a  Chinese  town  to  advertise  its  resources  and  advan- 
tages in  a  foreign  newspaper. 

It  is,  indeed,  a  great  joy  and  a  real  pleasure  for  one  who  has 
enjoyed  the  educational  facilities  offered  by  this  Paradise  of  the 
Pacific  and  learned  the  high  calling  of  his  profession  while  serv- 
ing a  newspaper  here,  and  who  was  the  first  of  his  race  from 
these  islands  to  sit  at  the  feet  of  the  great  teacher  and  leader 
of  newspaper-making  to  endorse  on  behalf  of  the  country  of  his 
origin  the  organization  of  a  Pan-Pacific  Press  Congress. 

To  prepare  the  way  for  a  greater  journalistic  mission  to 
China,  many  journalists  should  pay  a  visit  to  China,  especially 
the  city  of  Canton,  where  the  Hawaiian  hospitality  can  easily  be 
duplicated.  The  President  of  the  Constitutional  Government  of 
the  Republic  of  China,  Dr.  Sun  Yat-sen,  has  been  a  resident  of 
Honolulu,  and  the  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Canton  is  a  Maui  boy  and 
a  former  student  of  Honolulu  schools.  (Applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  What  Mr.  Wong  has  so  impressively 
and  simply  said,  particularly  his  closing  sentences,  is  an  indica- 
tion of  what  can  be  accomplished  by  meetings  such  as  this  and 
what  may  be  accomplished  by  Chinese  journalists  who  are,  at 
personal  sacrifice,  giving  their  lives  among  their  own  people  unto 
high  public  service. 

We  have  other  addresses  this  afternoon.  The  next  to  the 
last  on  the  program  is  an  address  by  the  Secretary.  It  is  not 
his  address,  it  is  an  address  prepared  for  him,  or  rather  pre- 
pared for  the  Congress,  by  Mr.  J.  E.  Davidson,  now  the  managing 
director  of  The  Barrier  Miner,  Broken  Hill,  Australia,  and  first 
president  of  the  Australian  Journalists  Association.  His  subject 
is  "Journalism  in  Australia."     It  is  particularly  appropriate  that 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  321 

it  should  be  read,  with  some  additional  comments  I  trust,  by  our 
worthy  Secretary,  Mr.  Guy  Innes,  who  was  for  a  long  time 
associated  with  Mr.  Davidson  on  the  Melbourne  Evening  Herald. 

MR.  INNES:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  Mr. 
Davidson  has  been  more  fortunate  in  his  paper  than  Colonel 
Lawson  was  in  his.  Far  from  cutting  portions  out,  the  Star 
Bulletin  has  indorsed  great  sections  of  it  with  black  marks,  so 
I  take  it,  it  will  approve  of  what  Mr.  Davidson  has  said. 

Mr.  Davidson  I  might  say  is  of  American  birth,  an  Ann 
Arbor  boy.  He  was  for  some  time  on  the  Detroit  Free  Press ; 
then  he  came  to  Australia  eventually  becoming  first  president 
of  the  Australian  Journalistic  Association,  a  position  which  Mr. 
Davies  occupies  at  present.  This  association  has  done  more 
for  the  working  journalist  than  any  other  body,  and  I  have  great 
pleasure  in  presenting  his  address : 

Eight  hundred  and  forty-five  newspapers  supply  Australia's 
five  and  a  half  millions  of  people  with  news  and  journalistic 
comment.  Australian  journalism  compares  favorably  with  that 
in  any  other  part  of  the  globe.  From  the  editorial  and  com- 
mercial points  of  view,  the  bulk  of  the  newspapers  are  ably 
conducted.  In  a  social  system  in  which  the  newspaper  must 
necessarily  be  a  commercial  success  in  order  to  live,  they  maintain 
the  highest  ideals.  There  has  never  been  ground,  so  far  as  I 
know,  for  suspicion  that  any  newspaper  of  standing  has  ever 
been  actuated  in  its  policy  or  advocacy  by  self-seeking  or  cor- 
rupt motives.  Bribery  of  the  Australian  press  is  unheard  of. 
Its  honesty  of  purpose  is  beyond  question.  The  leading  and 
special  articles  are  vigorously  written.  The  news  on  the  whole 
is  set  out  fairly  and  impartially.  The  style  employed  is  generally 
crisp  and  pithy,  but  without  any  attempt  at  elaborate  display. 
In  the  last  ten  years  the  evening  newspapers,  which  have  made 
rapid  progress,  have  to  some  extent  broken  away  from  the  un- 
written law  in  regard  to  the  non-display  of  news,  but  the  morn- 
ing papers  still  rigidly  conform  to  it.  In  the  same  way,  the 
evening  newspapers  have  abandoned  the  practice  of  excluding 
pictorial  features.  Several  of  the  most  successful  evening  papers 
are  now  following  the  example  set  by  the  American  press  in  that 
respect.  On  special  occasions  the  morning  papers  use  photo- 
graphic work,  but  not  so  generally  as  their  evening  contempo- 

21 


322      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

raries.    Line  illustrations  as  used  in  the  United  States  are  rarely 
seen  in  Australian  newspapers. 

A  lack  of  humor  is  perhaps  one  of  the  outstanding  features 
of  Australian  journalism.  One  rarely  gets  a  laugh  out  of  our 
daily  press,  unless  it  be  a  laugh  at  the  intense  seriousness  of  some 
of  the  political  articles.  Conscious  humor  is  studiously  avoided,  so 
studiously  avoided,  that  not  infrequently  unconscious  humor  is 
abundantly  present.  The  Australian  newspapers  are  originally 
modeled  on  the  British  type  of  journalism,  to  which  type  they 
still  closely  adhere.  True  to  the  British  type,  the  Australian 
journalism  is  staid,  weighty  and  serious.  It  worships  at  the 
shrine  of  dignity,  and  therefore  in  many  of  the  leading  daily 
newspapers  humor  is  taboo.  That  is  not  to  say  there  are  no 
humorists  among  Australian  newspaper  men.  As  a  fact,  there 
is  as  high  a  percentage  of  them  on  the  inky  way  under  the  South- 
ern Cross  as  among  journalists  elsewhere,  but  most  of  the  witty 
newspaper  matter  and  headings  are  only  published  in  clubs  or 
other  places  where  the  Australian  newspaper  men  congregate. 
Several  bright  writers  in  Australia  have,  at  different  times,  nearly 
lost  their  jobs,  because  in  unguarded  moments,  they  let  a  joke  a 
creep  into  their  "copy."  ^^ 

On  this  phase  of  journalism  many  proprietors  and  managers 
have  a  perfect  horror  of  what  they  call  "Americanizing"  their 
newspapers.  A  remonstrance  to  one  manager  in  respect  to  the 
dull  seriousness  of  his  newspaper  drew  the  remark,  "My  dear 
fellow,  dullness  and  seriousness  pay  me.  Tell  me  how  to  make 
my  paper  more  solemn  and  serious  and  I'll  listen  to  you."  And 
there  was  wisdom  in  that  apparent  topsyturvy  observation.  There 
is  nothing  the  Australian  public  resent  more  quickly  or  more  em- 
phatically than  innovations  in  its  newspapers. 

The  Australian  newspaper  reader  likes  his  paper  to  have  exact- 
ly the  same  appearance  from  day  to  day.  He  wishes  to  find  its 
several  features — the  wool  market,  the  mining  news,  the  financial 
articles,  the  cabled  and  local  news — all  in  precisely  the  same 
part  of  the  paper  each  day.  Further,  he  expects  all  the  reports 
and  articles  to  follow  a  stereotyped  form.  For  that  reason 
what  is  called  the  "lead"  in  American  journalism  is  unknown  in 
Australia.  In  Australia  a  newspaper  story  must  start  at  the 
"beginning"  and  work  up  to  a  climax  like  the  old  three-volume 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  323 

novel.  A  police  court  story  must  first  of  all  set  out  when  and 
where  the  court  was  held,  who  occupied  the  bench,  the  name 
of  the  accused,  and  the  charge.  The  evidence  tendered  in  the 
case  must  follow  in  the  order  submitted,  and  the  fate  of  the 
person  concerned  must  be  carefully  concealed  until  the  last  par- 
agraph is  written;  unless  perchance  it  is  disclosed  in  the  head- 
line. In  the  case  of  one  newspaper  which  departed  from  that 
formula  the  managing  editor  received  numerous  letters  from 
readers  to  the  effect  that  they  objected  to  him  turning  "all  the 
reports  in  the  paper  upsidedown." 

Until  the  Australian  States  federated  and  the  Commonwealth 
of  Australia  was  created,  the  newspapers  devoted  an  inordinate 
amount  of  space  to  politics.  This  again  was  one  of  the  jour- 
nalistic traditions  handed  down  from  the  British  type.  The 
political  writers  were  always  the  best-paid  men,  and  the  editors 
of  the  great  daily  newspapers  were  selected  mainly  on  their 
political  acumen.  In  those  days  most  of  the  work  in  what 
Americans  call  the  "human  interest"  domain  was  entrusted  to 
the  junior  members  of  the  staffs.  While  the  states  remained  en- 
tirely separate  entities,  the  big  metropolitan  newspapers  wielded 
enormous  political  power,  and  on  that  power  they  flourished  in 
a  financial  sense. 

More  than  fifty  per  cent  of  the  Australian  population  is 
centered  in  the  state  capital  cities,  and  that  enabled  the  great 
newspapers  to  build  up  their  immense  political  influence.  Each 
paper  strove  to  become  a  sort  of  political  director,  and  the 
more  powerful  of  them  were  indeed  able  to  make  and  unmake 
State  Ministries  at  their  own  sweet  wills.  The  success  of  these 
papers  led  others  to  strive  after  similar  effects,  with  the  result 
that  the  real  news  side  of  journalism  was  neglected.  The  aim 
of  every  proprietor  was  to  make  his  publication,  not  a  first- 
class  newspaper,  but  what  some  were  pleased  to  term  an  "or- 
gan." In  other  words,  a  force  in  the  formation  of  public  opin- 
ion. 

When  the  Commonwealth  was  inaugurated,  however,  na- 
tional matters  began  to  overshadow  state  affairs.  Australia  on 
a  whole  displaced  the  individual  states  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 
Realizing  that  fact,  the  newspapers  began  to  devote  less  space 
to  state  poHtics  and  more  to  Commonwealth  politics ;  but  they 


324      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

had  not  nearly  the  same  influence  of  power  over  the  Federal 
(Commonwealth)  Parliament  or  in  Federal  political  matters  as 
they  had  enjoyed  in  state  matters.  This  was  inevitable.  The 
big  metropolitan  newspapers,  while  all-powerful  in  their  own 
states,  could  do  nothing  to  influence  the  electors  of  other  states, 
simply  because  they  have  no  circulation  there.  Therefore,  since 
the  establishment  of  the  Commonwealth  in  1900  the  newspapers 
have  devoted  much  more  attention  to  general  news  as  distin- 
guished from  political  news. 

In  the  early  days  of  Australian  journalism  the  newspapers 
were  divided  in  the  political  field  along  a  line  somewhat  similar 
to  that  existing  in  Great  Britain.  They  belonged  to  one  of  two 
groups — Conservative  or  Liberal.  The  Conservative  papers  stood 
for  the  preservation  of  vested  interests,  chiefly  those  of  the 
landed  proprietors,  men  who  had  come  to  the  new  land  from 
Great  Britain  and  taken  up  large  areas  of  pastoral  country.  These 
men  were  and  still  are,  known  as  "squatters."  On  the  other 
hand,  the  Liberal  newspapers  favored  the  breaking  up  of  the 
holdings  of  the  squatters  into  small  areas  with  the  object  of 
absorbing  the  population  which  had  been  attracted  to  Australia 
by  the  gold  discoveries,  and  in  order  to  provide  land  for  other 
immigrants. 

Later  on,  as  secondary  industries  began  to  grow  up,  the  di- 
vision was  along  the  fiscal  issue,  except  in  New  South  Wales, 
the  Australian  home  of  free  trade.  The  Conservative  newspapers 
took  up  the  cudgels  on  behalf  of  free  trade  and  the  importing 
interests,  while  the  Liberal  journals  supported  a  policy  of  pro- 
tection for  the  new  industries.  In  this  battle  the  Liberal  papers 
eventually  won  a  decisive  victory.  In  the  first  two  Common- 
wealth Parliamentary  elections  after  the  states  had  federated, 
the  free  trade  party  was  completely  routed,  since  then,  the  fiscal 
issue  has  played  a  very  insignificant  part  in  Australian  journalism. 
Even  in  New  South  Wales  the  contest  against  the  policy  of 
protection  has  been  abandoned. 

Meanwhile,  as  secondary  industries  had  multiplied,  there 
had  grown  up  in  the  big  cities,  almost  unheeded  by  the  news- 
papers, a  large  wage-earning  population — artisans  and  factory 
operatives.  That  class  of  the  population  was  augmented  by  the 
masses  of  unskilled  laborers,  created  and  encouraged  to  remain 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  325 

unskilled  by  the  expenditure  by  the  State  Governments  of  enor- 
mous sums  of  loan  money  borrowed  from  Great  Britain.  The 
steady  growth  of  this  proletarian  population  silently  worked  a 
tremendous  change  in  the  political  thought  of  Australia,  which 
again  had  its  efifect  on  political  journalism.  For  a  time  the 
proletarian  class  swung  in  behind  the  Liberal  Party,  as  it  did  in 
Great  Britain  for  nearly  two  centuries.  This  meant  a  vast  ac- 
cession of  power  to  the  Liberal  newspapers.  But  about  1890 — the 
year  of  the  great  hard  fought  strike  in  the  shipping  industry  in 
Australia — the  proletarian  or  working  class  population  began 
to  organize  a  political  party  of  its  own.  This  became,  and  is 
still,  known  as  the  Australian  Labor  Party.  It  was  at  the  time 
wholly  without  newspaper  support.  For  ten  years  the  work  of 
organization  went  on  steadily,  and  ultimately  changed  the  whole 
aspect  of  Australian  political  journalism. 

Conservative  and  Liberal  newspapers,  which  had  hitherto 
been  fiercely  fighting  each  other,  began  to  find  a  common  cause 
in  hostility  to  the  new  party  and  its  socialistic  policy.  Almost 
unconsciously,  they  joined  forces  to  oppose  sternly  the  now 
rapidly  rising  party.  There  was  still  here  and  there  a  slight  dif- 
ference in  the  tone  adopted  toward  certain  measures  proposed 
by  the  Labor  Party,  but  in  the  broad  sense  both  Conservative  and 
Liberal  journals  were  unanimously  anti-Labor.  Despite  their 
combined  efforts,  they  failed  utterly  to  stem  Labor's  on- 
coming tide. 

Assisted,  but  not  much,  by  three  or  four  small  weekly  propa- 
ganda sheets,  published  in  State  Capital  cities,  the  Labor  Party 
eventually  secured  a  majority  in  two  or  three  of  the  State  Legis- 
latures and  in  the  Commonwealth  Parliament.  The  political 
power  and  influence  of  the  Australian  newspapers  were  dealt  a 
staggering  blow,  from  which  they  have  never  recovered  in  a  polit- 
ical sense.  This  was  unmistakably  demonstrated  during  the  war 
period.  On  two  occasions  during  that  period  the  Commonwealth 
Government  submitted  to  a  referendum  of  the  editors  (adult 
suffrage)  the  question  of  whether  the  Australian  army  fighting 
abroad  should  be  reinforced  by  means  of  military  conscription. 
The  Labor  Party  opposed  military  conscription  and  was  supported 
by  five  small  and  feeble  daily  newspapers  which  it  had  meanwhile 
established.     The  whole  of  the  powerful  anti-Labor  and  non- 


326      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Labor  newspapers,  numbering  seven  hundred  throughout  Aus- 
traHa,  strongly  advocated  the  principle  of  and  need  for  military 
conscription.  Clearly  the  old-established  newspapers  had  lost 
their  power  to  sway  the  people  at  will,  though  doubtless  the 
element  of  strong  self-interest  and  family  interest  in  the  con- 
scription question  was  beyond  the  reach  of  newspaper  argument 
in  the  case  of  vast  numbers  of  the  electors. 

One  result  of  this  loss  of  influence  is  that  the  political  side 
of  Australian  journalism  is  gradually  losing  much  of  the  im- 
portance it  once  possessed.  More  and  more  attention  is  being 
paid  to  the  world's  news,  received  by  cable,  and  to  happenings  af- 
fecting the  general  life  of  the  community.  In  short,  the  Austra- 
lian newspaper  is  becoming  less  of  a  political  machine,  and  there- 
fore truer  to  name. 

In  addition  to  the  weekly  Labor  papers  already  referred  to 
the  Labor  party  now  publishes  five  daily  journals,  one  each  in 
Hobart  (Tasmania),  Adelaide  (South  Australia),  Brisbane 
(Queensland),  Ballarat  (Victoria)  and  Broken  Hill  (New  South 
Wales).  There  is  no  Labor  daily  press  in  either  of  the  two  chief 
cities — Melbourne  and  Sydney,  although  at  the  outbreak  of  the 
war  the  Labor  party  had  a  modern  plant  ready  in  Sydney  to  pro- 
duce a  daily  newspaper.  Owing  greatly  to  the  narrow  lines  and 
narrow  views  which  characterize  the  Labor  papers  as  compared 
with  their  non-Labor  opponents — which,  again,  is  owing  greatly 
to  the  fact  that  the  leaders  of  the  party  have  not  yet  learned  the 
first  essentials  of  newspaper  management — little  journalistic  or 
financial  success  has  yet  been  achieved  by  any  Labor  daily  paper. 
All  of  them  are  dependent  on  constant  and  grudging  financial  sup- 
port from  the  Labor  unions.  The  circulations,  too,  are  exceed- 
ingly small,  even  among  the  working  class,  in  comparison  with 
those  of  non-Labor  papers.  One  explanation  of  the  poor  cir- 
culations is  that  the  Labor  publications  are  not  newspapers  in 
the  proper  sense  of  that  term.  They  may  be  described  generally 
as  propaganda  sheets  disguised  as  newspapers,  and  they  are 
therefore  neither  one  nor  the  other.  They  try  to  be  both,  and 
fail  both  ways.  Another  drawback  to  successful  Labor  journal- 
ism is  that  there  are  wide  divisions  within  the  party  itself.  These 
divisions  cover  sections  such  as  the  revolutionary  communists, 
of  the  Karl  Marx  school;  guild  socialists;  State  socialists  and 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  327 

constitutional  democrats.  All  these  sections  issue  small  weekly, 
fortnightly,  or  monthly  newspapers  which  have  little  or  no  in- 
fluence on  the  mass  of  the  proletariat. 

From  the  offices  of  most  of  the  principal  daily  papers  bulky 
general  weekly  newspapers  are  issued.  There  is  usually  one 
such  weekly  paper  connected  with  each  big  daily  paper  pro- 
prietary. These  publications  are  a  distinctive  feature  of  Aus- 
tralian journalism.  They  are  not  mere  weekly  enlargements  of 
the  dailies,  but  they  are  entirely  separate  publications  under  sep- 
arate titles.  They  contain  summaries  of  the  week's  news,  special 
agricultural,  pastoral,  horticultural  and  sporting  articles,  short 
and  serial  stories,  and  an  illustrated  section  printed  on  art  or 
supercalendared  paper.  Many  of  these  are  highclass  productions 
and  have  large  circulations,  chiefly  in  the  rural  districts.  Aus- 
tralia, however,  is  deficient  in  first-rate  magazines  and  reviews,  the 
reason  being  that  its  population  is  too  small  to  carry  them. 

Except  at  Sydney,  in  the  State  of  New  South  Wales,  there  are 
no  Sunday  papers  in  Australia.  In  that  city,  however,  three 
Sunday  papers  are  published  regularly,  two  of  them  from  the 
offices  of  evening  newspapers  and  one  independently.  All  are 
built  more  or  less  on  the  lines  of  American  Sunday  papers.  In 
several  of  the  States  the  publication  of  regular  Sunday  papers 
is  expressly  forbidden  by  law.  In  those  States  it  is  provided  that 
established  newspapers  may  publish  three  Sunday  editions  dur- 
ing any  one  year,  but  then  only  if  the  matter  contained  in  such 
editions  is  of  national  importance. 

Among  the  weekly  publications  there  is  one  which  is  known 
in  most  parts  of  the  English-speaking  world.  This  is  The  Bulle- 
tin, published  in  Sydney,  New  South  Wales.  It  is  the  nearest 
approach  that  Australia  has  to  a  national  paper.  In  its  make-up 
and  range  of  matter  there  is  nothing  quite  like  it  in  the  whole 
world  of  journalism.  Founded  by  an  extraordinarily  brilliant 
Australian,  whose  outlook  was  essentially  that  of  the  average 
Australian,  it  has  done  much  to  mould  national  thought  and  char- 
acter. 

Seizing  the  field  of  humor  and  satire,  left  largely  untouched 
by  the  daily  newspapers,  the  founder  of  The  Bulletin  produced 
a  paper  brimful  of  those  qualities.  After  the  usual  struggle,  ow- 
ing to  insufficient  capital,  it  was  a  complete  success.     It  handles 


328      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

politics,  finance,  art,  literature,  and  the  topics  of  the  day  from 
a  broad  national  viewpoint,  and  all  its  articles,  paragraphs,  car- 
toons, caricatures  and  drawings  are  given  a  witty  turn  typically 
Australian.  The  humor  is  so  adroitly  mixed  with  sound  common 
sense,  good  taste,  solid  argument,  and  lofty  national  sentiment 
that  The  Bulletin  makes  delightful  reading.  It  is  as  popular 
with  women  readers  as  with  men.  Its  contributors  are  to  be 
found  in  all  classes  of  the  community,  and  in  every  remote  corner 
of  the  island  continent.  It  has  done  more  to  encourage  and  build 
up  the  short  story  writers  and  the  black  and  white  artists  of 
Australia  than  any  one  paper  in  any  other  country  has  done  for 
its  writers  and  artists.  It  is  popular  in  city,  town  and  country. 
Indeed  it  has  been  said  that  if,  on  the  long,  lonely  back  country 
tracks  of  Australia,  you  meet  a  solitary  swagman,  bush  worker, 
or  sheep  or  cattle  drover,  he  may  ask  you  for  a  pipe  of  tobacco, 
but  he  is  sure  to  ask  for  a  copy  of  The  Bulletin.  And  withal 
it  is  in  the  hands  of  practically  every  financier  and  statesman,  ,J 

investor  and  business  man  in  every  part  of  the  Continent. 

As  is  natural  in  a  country  so  devoutly  devoted  to  all  forms  of 
sport,  the  sporting  papers  are  numerous.  These  follow  closely 
the  lines  of  the  British  and  American  sporting  publications. 

The  great  handicap  under  which  the  Australian  newspapers 
suffer  is  the  cost  of  obtaining  the  world's  big  news.  The  bulk 
of  this  news  is  cabled  from  London,  England,  and  in  comparison 
with  the  cable  charges  to  other  countries,  the  rate  per  word  is 
high.  Two  cable  lines  touch  Australia,  the  Eastern  Extension 
and  the  Pacific  cables.  The  news  is  transmitted  through  those 
lines,  but  the  heavy  cost  is  a  drain  on  the  resources  of  the  news- 
papers. The  whole  of  the  Australian  press  is  dependent  on  three 
cable  news   organizations.     One   of   these   is   controlled  by   the  v 

morning  newspapers  of  Sydney  and  Melbourne,  formed  into  an  «, 

association  for  that  purpose.     This  association  uses  its  own  serv-  1- 

ice,  and  also  sells  it  to  the  other  morning  papers  in  the  capital  * 

cities,  and  to  one  or  two  evening  papers  in  the  capital  cities  as  !;' 

well.     The  other  two  cable  news  organizations  are  at  present  | ' 

working  together  under  an  agreement.    They  consist  of  a  service  | 

controlled  by  the  evening  paper  in  Sydney  and  another  in  Mel-  "s^' 

bourne,  and  of  the  Reuter's  Service.    These  services  are  sold  to  | 

other  newspapers  throughout  Australia  on  a  contributory  basis 
which  gives  the  contributors  no  voice  in  the  management. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  329 

With  slight  variations  the  laws,  libel  and  otherwise,  govern- 
ing newspapers  in  Australia  are  the  same  in  all  the  states  of  the 
Commonwealth.  They  are  based  on  the  British  laws  dealing 
with  newspapers.  So  far  as  the  law  of  libel  is  concerned,  the 
principle  is  that  nothing  must  be  printed  that  is  calculated  to 
injure  or  damage  a  person  in  the  eyes  of  his  fellow-citizens. 
Under  it  a  newspaper  has  no  greater  rights  or  privileges  in  com- 
menting on  public  affairs,  or  in  criticizing  public  men  or  other 
persons,  that  are  possessed  by  the  ordinary  citizen.  The  courts 
of  justice  are  very  strict  on  this  point,  and  the  libel  law  is  re- 
sorted to  by  persons  who  consider  themselves  aggrieved  much 
more  frequently  in  Australia  than  is  the  case  in  America.  The 
Australian  citizen  is  much  more  sensitive  in  respect  to  what  is 
said  about  him  in  the  press  than  is  his  American  cousin. 

The  following  instance,  from  my  own  experience,  will  il- 
lustrate the  nervous  condition  of  the  Australian  newspapers  as 
regards  the  printing  of  libels.  During  the  Broken  Hill  strike  of 
1919-20,  when  the  whole  city  was  laid  idle  for  eighteen  months, 
The  Barrier  Miner  discovered  that  three  of  the  strike  leaders, 
while  drawing  strike  pay  coupons,  were  secretly  receiving  seven 
pounds  a  week  for  alleged  services  in  procuring  the  attendance 
of  union  members  for  examination  by  a  medical  commission 
specially  appointed  by  the  Government,  at  the  Union's  request, 
to  enquire  into  the  health  conditions  at  the  mines.  The  leaders 
were  suspected  of  opposing  the  work  of  the  health  commission,  and 
so  they  were  secretly  paid  salaries  by  the  commission  to  counter- 
act their  adverse  intentions — a  scheme  which  proved  successful. 
The  Barrier  Miner,  having  got  the  men  to  unsuspectingly  convict 
themselves  out  of  their  own  mouths,  telegraphed  the  facts,  as 
specially  good  copy,  to  all  its  correspondent  newspapers,  and  to 
all  the  other  leading  newspapers  in  Australia.  But  although  the 
strike  was  a  matter  of  great  national  concern,  scarcely  any,  if 
any,  dared  to  reproduce  the  exposure.  The  guilty  men  had 
published  a  threat  of  libel  actions  against  any  newspapers  that 
should  reprint  the  facts,  and  that  sufficed  to  terrify  the  Australian 
press  into  silence.  The  men  did  begin  suits  against  The  Barrier 
Miner  but  they  did  not  proceed  to  court.  Meanwhile  one  of  them 
was  hounded  out  of  office  over  the  matter,  and  the  others  went 
out  of  their  own  accord.  This  is  an  example  of  the  paralyzing 
effects  of  the  libel  nightmare  on  the  Australian  press. 


330      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

One  law,  peculiar  to  Australia,  has  been  enacted  by  the  Com- 
monwealth Parliament.  This  is  contained  in  the  Electoral  Act, 
a  law  relating  to  and  governing  the  election  of  members  to  the 
Commonwealth  Parliament.  In  it  there  is  a  clause  providing  that 
between  the  date  of  the  issue  of  a  writ  for  an  election,  and  the 
date  of  the  return  of  the  writ  to  the  President  of  the  Senate  or 
the  Speaker  of  the  House  of  Representatives  every  article  ap- 
pearing in  any  paper  commenting  on  matter  relating  to  the  elec- 
tion must  be  signed  by  the  writer  thereof.  This  provision  was 
brought  forward  by  the  Labor  party,  and  was  intended  as  a  blow 
at  the  influence  of  the  anti-Labor  newspapers.  It  was  considered 
that  if  the  names  of  the  writers  of  political  articles  were  attached 
to  them,  it  would  detract  from  the  weight  of  such  articles.  The 
underlying  idea  was  to  detach  the  force  and  influence  of  a  paper 
from  the  article  published  in  it,  and  to  give  them  the  appearance 
of  expression  of  mere  personal  opinions  by  obscure  writers. 

The  intention  of  the  law,  however,  has  been  fairly  generally 
defeated  whenever  desired.  This  has  been  done  by  attaching  to 
each  article  the  names  of  the  whole  of  the  persons  composing  the 
editorial  and  leader-writing  staff,  by  appending  a  statement  that 
the  article  was  written,  after  consultation,  by  "Brown  Smith" 
or  by  printing  a  statement  in  some  part  of  the  newspaper  to  the 
effect  that  for  any  matter  in  the  issue  requiring  a  signature  under 
the  law,  "Brown  Smith,"  "Smith  Brown,"  and  "Jones  Robinson" 
are  responsible. 

Consequently  it  is  exceedingly  doubtful  whether  the  law  has 
had  the  effect  desired  by  its  framers.  It  has  been  the  means  of 
satisfying  some  idle  curiosity  as  to  the  identity  of  the  political  '/ 

writers,  but  that  is  about  all.  f 

For  the  last  ten  years  the  working  journalists  of  Australia  j. 

have  been  organized  in  a  trade  union,  registered  under  the  in-  |' 

dustrial  law  of  the  Commonwealth.     This  union  is  known  as  \ 

the  Australian  Journalists'  Association.     Any  person  the  major  | 

portion  of  whose  income  is  derived  from  journalism,  not  being  / 

a  managing  editor  or  chief  of  staff,  is  eligible  for  membership.  1 1| 

Practically  every  working  journalist  is  a  member  of  the  organiza-  'v 

tion,  which  has  obtained  by  appeals  to  the  Arbitration   Court  i, 

created  under  the  Industrial  law,  awards  fixing  the  minimum  -^ 

wages,  and  the  hours  and  conditions  of  labor  for  all  its  members.         ^ 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  331 

These  awards  have  substantially  increased  the  wages  of  journaHsts 
on  the  regular  newspaper  staffs  throughout  Austraha,  and  at  the 
same  time  they  have  decreased  the  hours  of  labor.  Separate  agree- 
ments have  been  made  by  the  Journalists'  Association  with  city 
and  country  newspaper  proprietors.  In  the  capital  cities,  the 
Melbourne  (Victoria)  and  Sydney  (New  South  Wales)  wage 
rates  are  taken  as  basis,  and  percentage  reductions  are  provided 
in  the  wages  paid  in  the  smaller  capitals  like  Brisbane  (Queens- 
land), and  Perth  (West  Australia),  Hobart  (Tasmania),  and 
Adelaide  (South  Australia).  At  first,  where  the  journalists  were 
fighting  for  the  formation  of  the  Association  and  for  their  awards 
from  the  Arbitration  Court,  there  was  some  friction  with  the 
newspaper  proprietors,  who  resented  the  application  of  trade 
union  principles  in  the  working  of  their  literary  staffs.  Now, 
however,  the  position  has  been  accepted,  and  the  scheme  is  operat- 
ing smoothly  and,  on  the  whole,  satisfactorily. 

The  need  for  a  national  Australian  daily  newspaper  is  crying 
aloud  for  recognition.  The  great  dailies  of  the  large  cities  are 
all  parochial.  Even  the  greatest  of  them,  and  they  include  news- 
papers that  would  bear  comparison  with  the  world's  best,  give 
surprisingly  little  space  to  Australian  affairs  outside  the  state 
in  which  they  are  published.  Indeed,  after  eliminating  the  purely 
metropolitan  news  and  the  foreign  cables,  there  is  little  left. 
Australian  happenings  of  far  greater  importance  than  much  of 
the  news  cabled  from  the  other  side  of  the  world  are  often  over- 
looked if  outside  the  boundaries  of  the  state  in  which  the  paper 
is  published.  One  would  think  that  the  leading  metropolitan 
dailies  had  come  to  an  agreement  not  to  compete  with  one  an- 
other, otherwise,  within  twenty  years  of  federation,  surely  one,  if 
not  more,  of  them  would  have  pubHshed  an  edition  simultaneously 
in  each  state.  That  opportunity  will  not  be  left  unseized  forever; 
for  though  it  would  take  large  capital  to  initiate  a  new  daily  news- 
paper on  national  lines,  with  a  national  policy,  and  published 
simultaneously  in  each  of  the  six  states,  such  a  paper  would 
really  have  no  opposition  in  its  own  wide  sphere.  Three-fifths  of 
the  population  would  be  reached  by  such  a  paper  before  break- 
fast every  morning.  Well  and  patriotically  conducted,  such  a 
journal  would  indeed  be  a  power  in  the  land,  and  a  power  for 
great  good.     Perhaps  such  a  paper  will  soon  appear.     Until  it 


332      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

does,  it  cannot  be  said  that  the  AustraHan  press  has  attained  its 
majority.     (Loud  applause.) 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  Those  who  have  the  privilege  of  ac- 
quaintance with  Mr.  Davidson  hold  him  in  high  regard  and  admir- 
ation, which  regard  and  admiration  is  increased  by  the  paper  we 
have  heard  read  by  his  worthy  representative  on  this  program,  Mr. 
Guy  Innes.  As  the  delegate  from  Great  Britain  is  out  of  the  House 
at  this  time,  the  Chair  may  quote  a  remark  made  by  an  Australian 
journalist  regarding  journalism  in  Australia.  When  asked  if 
it  was  not  true  that  the  journalism  of  Australia  has  descended 
from  the  British  journalism,  he  replied,  "No,  ascended  from 
British  journalism,"  which  was,  of  course,  with  the  becoming 
modesty  of  a  child  as  to  its  parent. 

The  final  speaker  of  the  afternoon  is  a  woman.  She  would 
have  a  larger  audience  except  for  herself.  She,  as  President  of 
the  Honolulu  Press  Club,  has  provided  such  delightful  entertain- 
ment outside  of  this  room  that  it  has  taken  from  her  audience 
persons  who  otherwise  would  be  here.  I  have  the  distinguished 
pleasure  of  presenting  to  you  the  President  of  the  Honolulu  Press 
Club,  to  whose  activity  we  owe  so  much  of  the  attractiveness  of 
our  stay  in  the  Islands,  Mrs.  John  T.  Warren. 

MRS.  WARREN :  Mr.  President  and  Delegates  of  the  Press : 
As  the  special  representative  of  the  Honolulu  Press  Club,  in  my 
heart  I  also  represent  the  League  of  American  Pen  Women  of 
which  I  have  been  Territorial  representative  for  three  years,  and 
the  Southern  California  Women's  Press  Club,  whose  President 
addressed  you  this  morning,  and  of  which  I  have  been  a  member 
for  the  past  eighteen  years. 

They  say  that  the  most  important  part  of  a  woman's  letter  is 
her  postscript,  as  it  is  then  that  she  asks  her  husband  for  money 
and  then  that  she  lets  the  one  man  know  that  he  is  the  one  man. 

I  was  allowed  to  choose  my  subject  and  so  show  my  two 
hobbies,  "interviewing"  and  "headlines."  No  real  feminine  fails 
to  look  at  the  end  of  a  story  first  seeking  for  the  happy  ending, 
so  I  am  going  to  start  with  my  postscript  and  then  go  back  to 
the  story. 

There  is  one  suggestion  or  rather  appeal  which  I  would  like 
to  make  and  it  comes  as  the  result  of  ten  years'  active  experience 


\  I 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  333 

on  a  daily  paper,  upon  the  staff  of  which  I  occupied  every  posi- 
tion from  society  editor  at  the  beginning  to  associate  editor  in 
the  middle  and  special  writer  at  the  end,  when  I  wrote  in  every 
department,  police  court  to  heads,  and  many  times  had  to  train 
the  cub  reporters  into  the  bargain!  The  question  which  burns  in 
my  soul  and  has  scorched  my  otherwise  good  disposition  is  the 
matter  of  headlines.  Of  all  the  departments  of  a  daily  newspaper 
where  there  is  room  for  more  just  criticism  than  any  other,  it 
is  in  the  abominations  which  appear  frequently  on  the  front  page 
under  the  name  of  headlines.  It  is  not  only  the  inaccuracies  to 
which  I  refer,  but  the  bad  technique.  There  is  an  art  in  writing 
a  headline  just  as  in  anything  else,  but  if  more  reporters  were 
trained  at  the  start  how  to  write  heads  there  would  be  more  city 
editors  in  the  world  ten  years  later  who  could  head  up  a  story 
properly. 

Is  it  heads  or  tails  ? 

Sometimes  I  think  the  city  editors  toss  their  thoughts  up  into 
the  air  and  trust  to  luck  whether  it  is  heads  or  tails  that  turns  up. 
Sometimes  I  have  searched  half  way  down  the  column  of  a  front 
page  story  trying  to  discover  the  germ  of  an  idea  which  gave  the 
headlines  to  the  story  and  just  when  I  had  about  decided  that  this 
time  it  was  the  fault  of  the  composing  room  in  getting  heads 
switched  I  found  the  poor  forlorn  little  idea  buried  under  an 
avalanche  of  words,  struggling  for  air. 

If  I  had  taken  the  job  of  city  editor  which  was  offered  me 
a  few  years  before  I  left  the  active  newspaper  game,  one  of  the 
reforms  which  I  would  have  instituted  in  my  office  would  have 
been  in  the  writing  of  headlines.  I  should  have  required  every 
reporter  on  the  paper  to  turn  in  heads  with  every  story.  Per- 
haps none  of  these  headlines  would  ever  have  been  used — cer- 
tainly they  would  not  have  till  they  conformed  with  the  required 
standard — but  the  reporters  would  not  only  be  gaining  valuable 
experience  in  the  proper  writing  of  heads  but  they  would  many 
times  have  given  the  man  whose  business  it  is  to  head  up  stories 
an  idea  for  the  heads.  In  the  last  few  years  I  have  been  many 
times  disgusted  by  the  irrelevancy  of  many  headUnes.  Many 
times  the  chief  idea  of  the  story,  the  very  reason  for  its  existence, 
is  completely  ignored  and  cne  has  to  search  with  a  miscroscope  to 
find  an  excuse  within  the  story  for  it.     No  man  ought  to  know 


334      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  big  idea  in  a  story  as  well  as  the  man  who  wrote  it  and 
many  times  the  man  who  writes  the  story  can  give  a  good  idea 
to  the  man  who  writes  the  heads,  who  must  skim  scores  of 
stories  so  hurriedly  that  he  oftentimes  in  the  hurry  and  bustle  of 
makeup  loses  the  best  points  in  a  story. 

Headlines  have  always  interested  me  and  my  editor  not  only 
expected  me  to  head  up  most  of  my  own  stories  but  to  turn  in 
heads  for  many  of  the  other  reporters.  On  many  occasions  this 
was  a  big  help  to  the  city  editor.  I  do  not  contend  that  a  good 
writer  of  heads  can  be  made  in  a  week  or  a  month  or  even  a 
year,  perhaps,  but  every  bit  of  training  helps  and  if  the  heads 
thus  written  cannot  be  used  there  is  nothing  lost  and  there  is 
the  ever-yawning  waste  basket. 

This  is  an  age  of  quick  action  and  quick  results.  The  busy 
man  and  woman  must  many  times  depend  almost  entirely  upon 
the  headlines  for  their  news.  A  three  or  four-deck  head  when 
properly  written  "hits  all  the  high  places"  and  gives  the  chief  facts 
of  the  story. 

Every  writer  of  heads  should  be  taught  to  phrase  his  head- 
lines. You  cannot  break  a  thought  in  two  at  the  end  of  a  line  and 
stick  the  end  of  it  into  the  second  line.  There  is  an  etiquette  and 
technique  in  the  writing  of  headlines  which  should  be  carefully 
observed.  It  is  as  important  as  is  the  phrasing  of  a  piece  of 
music.  Thought  come  in  phrases  and  a  broken  thought  in  a 
headline  is  as  bad  form  as  a  word  hyphenated,  and  continued  over 
to  another  line !  It  seems  impossible  but  I  have  seen  that  un- 
pardonable sin  committed  even  in  Honolulu.  One  such  headline 
ruins  the  whole  page  which  it  defaces.  Put  a  picture  into  your 
headlines.  Make  them  live.  While  the  yellow  journals  lean  too 
far  toward  the  side  of  the  dramatic  and  sensational  I  sometimes 
think  they  write  better  heads  that  the  inert,  aenemic  groups  of 
words  which  many  times — alas  too  many — disgrace  the  top  of 
otherwise  good  stories. 

I  plead  for  a  better  co-operation  and  co-ordination  between 
the  writer  of  the  story  and  the  writer  of  the  head.  Unity  of 
thought  and  expression  is  a  goal  to  strive  for,  and  when  the 
man  who  writes  the  story  is  capable  of  writing  his  own  captions 
the  newspapers  will  go  far  toward  solving  this  vexing  problem. 

Interviewing  is  an  art,  and  an  art  that  many  a  good  writer 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  335 

has  never  mastered.  There  are  two  prime  factors  that  enter  into 
an  interview :  one  is,  how  to  get  it ;  the  other  is  how  to  write  it. 

At  first  sight  the  former  would  seem  to  be  more  important 
for  you  ask:  "How  can  you  write  a  thing  until  you  have  it?"  Let 
the  yellow  journals  who  do  that  sort  of  thing  answer.  Certain 
it  is  that  many  an  interview  that  in  itself  was  good  stuff,  has 
been  so  blotched  and  spoiled  in  the  handling,  that  it  would  re- 
quire a  very  clever  person  to  detect  the  hallmarks  of  the  genuine 
article.  It  requires  a  certain  amount  of  cleverness,  tact,  and 
adaptability  to  secure  a  good  interview.  It  requires  a  certain 
amount  of  cleverness  and  genius  to  write  it. 

Any  one  can  ask  another  man  questions  and  jot  down  those 
questions  and  answers,  verbatim.  But  that  by  no  means  con- 
stitutes an  interview  in  the  best  sense.  To  begin  with,  one  should 
be  a  good  student  of  human  nature — be  able  to  read  people  quick- 
ly and  accurately,  and  then  to  remember  what  he  reads.  He 
should  be  able  to  see  at  a  glance  little  peculiarities  and  bits  of 
personality  that  are  distinctive  and  individual,  and,  like  a  charac- 
teristic pose  in  a  picture,  stamps  the  personality  of  the  man  in- 
delibly upon  the  printed  page.  Any  little  mannerisms  or  habits, 
or  prominent  traits  should  be  noted,  and  hoarded  up  for  use  later 
on,  when  the  interview  comes  to  be  written.  It  is  these  more  than 
the  thoughts  which  the  man  expresses  that  will  give  the  personal 
flavor,  that  will  stamp  an  interview  on  disarmament  with  James 
Diplomat,  Congressman  from  the  Sixth  District,  as  distinctive 
from  another  with  the  Governor  of  the  state  upon  the  same  sub- 
ject. The  thoughts  they  express  and  the  words  they  utter  are  but 
half  the  interview  after  all. 

If,  after  reading  an  interview  with  someone  you  know  per- 
sonally, you  have  not  been  made  to  feel  that  you  have  just  had 
a  conversation  with  that  man,  then  that  interview  has  fallen 
short  of  what  it  should  have  been  in  just  so  far  as  it  has  lacked 
naturalness  and  the  little  indefinable  something,  known  for  lack 
of  a  better  name  as  personality. 

If  you  are  interviewing  a  man  who  persists  in  twirling  his 
mustache  and  always  crossing  his  legs  when  he  talks ;  who  paces 
back  and  forth  across  the  room  with  his  hands  in  his  pockets  and 
his  eyes  on  the  carpet  as  he  thinks ;  or  a  woman  who  tilts  her  head 
on  one  side  when  she  looks  at  you ;  who  has  a  peculiar  way  of 


336      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

pushing  back  the  hair  from  her  forehead ;  who  affects  any  notice- 
able style  in  dress  that  sets  her  apart  from  other  women;  re- 
member it.  You  will  have  use  for  it  later  on.  It  seems  immaterial 
perhaps,  and  foolish,  to  you  as  you  think  of  it,  but  when  you 
wish  to  put  a  little  of  the  actress'  personality  into  your  two 
column  interview  that  lasted  but  ten  minutes,  you  will  find  these 
bits  of  information  like  grains  of  pure  gold. 

Atmosphere  is  another  thing  which  is  a  veritable  "first  aid" 
to  the  interviewer.  For  instance :  some  years  ago  I  had  the  pleas- 
ure of  spending  an  hour  with  Augustus  Thomas,  the  well  known 
playwright,  one  rainy  Sunday  morning  at  his  picturesque  home, 
"The  Ramble,"  in  New  Rochelle,  "forty-five  minutes  from  Broad- 
way!" It  so  happened  that  the  only  hour  at  which  I  could  see 
him  was  his  breakfast  hour,  so  while  he  ate  toast  and  oranges, 
and  drank  his  morning  coffee,  between  surreptitious  glances  at 
the  New  York  papers  which  his  man  brought  in,  damp  from  the 
rain-soaked  lawn,  I  chatted  with  him  of  his  work,  and  he  told 
me  how  he  writes  his  plays.  A  reception  room  or  a  business-office 
interview  is  quite  the  ordinary  thing,  but  here  was  atmosphere 
more  novel.  It  is  not  often  that  one  is  admitted  to  a  cosy  break- 
fast room  and  allowed  to  chat  in  such  a  delightfully  informal  way 
with  the  lion  one  is  coaxing  to  roar !  So  the  oranges  and  the 
coffee,  the  jam  and  the  toast;  the  old  blue  breakfast  porcelain  and 
the  newspapers  all  had  their  parts  to  play  when  the  interview  was 
written. 

At  another  time  I  spent  some  pleasant  hours  with  Bronson 
Howard,  the  dean  of  American  playwrights,  this  time,  three 
thousand  miles  away  from  his  home  environment,  in  the  midst 
of  a  Southern  California  winter.  Surrounded  by  fruitladen 
orange  trees,  with  the  odor  of  orange  blossoms  and  roses  in  the 
air,  and  the  waving  palm  branches  framing  a  glimpse  of  purple- 
peaked  mountains  in  the  distance,  it  was  possible  to  give  a  very 
different  atmosphere  and  setting  to  the  interview  than  if  it  had 
been  secured  in  a  stately  New  York  drawing  room.  A  rose  garden 
chat  in  the  dead  of  winter  apparently  appealed  to  the  eastern  edi- 
tors, for  I  syndicated  the  story  myself  and  sold  almost  every  one 
of  the  many  copies  I  sent  out. 

Francis  Wilson  at  home  at  "The  Orchard,"  surrounded  by  his 
fine  collection  of  brasses  and  rare  paintings,  his  Napoleon  and 


MLSS  CAROLINE  .SOLTHLRN  Catches  a  Fish  (upper,  left)  ;    LOULS  MAJ3E1R1S 
10RTUGUE8E,   PrE«ENTIXO   GaVEL   FOB  CONGRESS   TO   GOVERNOR    E\RRlN(iTO\ 

A.O  PRESIDENT  WILLIAM.,  o.  Steps  oe  Io.a.sx  Paeace  (uppet  .^M 

HENRV  CHUNG,  Korea;    DONG-SUNG  KIM,  Korea    (lower  left,  loft  to  rioht) 
MR^HENRY  J.  ALLEN  axd  MRS.  RALPH  A.  HARRIS.  Deu..vtes  ,  K<,^,   I^xs.s 
Ukcoratei,  with  Lkis    (lower  rigl,t,  left  to  ri^I.t). 


Ir    r 

I  f 


I 

l'    cle 
1 1  ac( 
ani 


I 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  337 

the  wonderful  old  carved  chairs  made  from  the  pew  ends  of  the 
Shakespeare  chapel  at  Stratford-on-Avon,  was  a  very  different 
Francis  Wilson  from  the  actor  in  his  dressing  room,  and  the  two 
interviews  I  had  with  him  were  as  different  as  though  with  two 
different  men. 

Edward  Kemble  in  his  quaint  old  studio  in  New  Rochelle 
gave  me  just  the  setting  I  wanted  for  the  kind  of  interview  I 
sought — far  more  of  the  atmosphere  of  the  palette  and  brush  than 
had  I  met  him  at  a  down  town  club. 

Paul  de  Longpre  among  the  flowers  that  he  loved  to  paint  and 
among  which  he  lived,  gave  me  just  the  setting  I  needed  for  an 
Easter  interview  obtained  in  December,  that  brought  me  one  of 
the  best  checks  I  ever  endorsed.  And  it  was  ten  times  easier  to 
get  and  to  write  than  many  other  I  have  knocked  off  on  my  old 
machine  in  the  city  room  to  the  accompaniment  of  a  dozen  other 
typewriters,  three  telephones  and  the  unrelenting  urge  of  the 
copy  boy  waiting  for  the  next  page ! 

George  Ade  in  a  Southern  California  lemon  orchard  gave 
that  touch  of  novelty  and  background  to  the  tale  I  had  to  tell 
that  brought  me  anything  but  lemons  when  the  checks  came  home. 
They  were  peaches,  every  one  of  them ! 

Sometimes  you  want  a  man  in  his  own  environment.  Some- 
times you  want  him  out  of  it.  Oftentimes  the  appropriate  setting 
is  the  more  effective  and  artistic.  At  others  it  is  the  dramatic 
contrast  and  antithesis  which  prove  your  greatest  assets.  The 
clever  reporter  will  recognize  these  facts  and  plan  his  interview 
accordingly.  Many  times,  of  course,  he  cannot  choose  his  setting 
and  then  he  will  make  the  best  of  what  he  finds. 

Just  as  a  picture  takes  on  varied  tones  and  aspects  from  the 
frame  which  surrounds  it,  so  the  man  who  is  interviewed  may  be 
made  to  appear  as  differently  by  the  kind  of  setting  in  which  he 
is  placed.  If  this  is  in  any  way  unique  or  unusual  or  picturesque, 
so  much  the  better.  If  it  has  none  of  these  attributes  make  the 
most  of  it  and  use  it  to  the  best  advantage,  watching  all  the  more 
closely  for  the  individualities  of  the  man  himself. 

Naturalness  is  another  most  necessary  adjunct  of  the  good 
interview.  Ask  yourself  continually  as  you  write:  "Is  this  natur- 
al ?"  For  instance :  when  two  persons  are  conversing  one  usually 
does  not  say  many  sentences  without  giving  the  other  an   op- 

22 


338       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

portunity  to  say  something.  Be  careful  to  avoid  long  speeches 
in  the  mouths  of  your  "victims."  Break  up  the  conversation. 
There  are  many  little  devices  one  may  use  to  do  this,  if  a  speech 
seems  too  long  to  be  natural.  Drop  in  an  occasional,  "he  con- 
tinued ;"  "concluded  the  speaker ;"  "added  Mr.  Blank,"  etc.  Hunt 
up  a  few  more  verbs  beside  "said"  and  "answered"  and  "replied." 
Remember  that  "rejoined,  laughed,  added,  smiled,  suggested,  ex- 
claimed, questioned,  admitted,  frowned,"  and  numerous  others  all 
may  be  used,  and  still  carry  enough  distinctive  meaning  to  change 
the  color  of  the  monochrome.  Try  to  let  the  manner  of  the  man's 
speech  suggest  the  verb  that  is  to  express  it. 

The  Bible  admonished  the  disciples  to  "be  in  the  world,  but 
not  of  it."  No  less  should  the  interviewer,  be  he  a  cub  reporter 
at  twenty-five  dollars  a  week,  or  a  magazine  writer  of  the  nth 
power,  strive  to  be  in  the  interview  but  not  of  it.  He  must  be 
careful  not  to  intrude  his  own  personality  into  his  story,  at  the 
same  time  putting  enough  of  himself  in  to  keep  the  interview 
from  appearing  like  a  lecture  taken  down  verbatim  by  a  stenog- 
rapher. He  must  ask  questions,  and  some  of  these  questions  are 
necessary  to  the  continuity  and  sequence  of  his  story.  But  the 
ego,  the  every  present  "I"  must  be  kept  skillfully  in  the  back- 
ground. If  you  are  doing  an  interview  remember  that  you  are 
merely  the  electrician  operating  the  lights,  and  that  the  audience 
will  have  eyes  and  ears  only  for  the  stage  and  the  leading  man.  If 
your  machinery  squeaks  and  your  fuses  sputter,  the  audience  may 
cast  their  eyes  your  way,  it  is  true,  but  be  sure  it  will  not  be 
glances  of  approbation  that  you  will  receive.  Just  as  anything 
which  diverts  the  attention  from  what  is  going  on  upon  the  stage 
detracts  from  the  interest  of  the  play,  so  anything  which  takes  the 
attention  of  the  reader  from  the  hero  of  the  story,  weakens  the 
effect  and  the  reader  is  just  as  liable  to  harbor  a  grudge  against 
this  foreign  element  as  is  the  occupant  of  the  aisle  seat  whose 
gaze  is  attracted  by  the  sputtering  lights  in  the  theatre. 

When  we  look  at  a  sketch  we  see  the  outline  of  the  drawing, 
we  do  not  see  the  pen  which  traced  the  graceful  lines.  If  we 
stop  to  analyze  it  we  know  the  pen  was  there,  or  there  could 
never  have  been  the  lines,  but  the  pen  is  kept  out  of  sight,  and 
there  is  only  the  evidence  of  its  existence.  Just  so  should  the  re- 
porter efface  himself  from  his  interview ;  the  reader  must  never 
be  allowed  to  "see  the  wheels  go  round." 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  339 

The  backbone  of  the  interview  will  depend  upon  the  ques- 
tions the  reporter  asks.  Someone  has  said  that  it  takes  a  wise 
man  to  ask  questions.  It  certainly  requires  some  knowledge  of 
the  subject  in  hand  to  ask  intelligent  questions  that  will  draw 
out  the  thoughts  and  opinions  of  the  one  interviewed,  and  on 
the  originality  and  versatility  of  the  questioner  will  largely  de- 
pend the  success  of  his  interview.  Even  a  clever  man  is  not 
liable  to  appear  clever  unless  there  is  some  kind  of  a  magnet 
to  draw  the  needles  of  his  wit,  while  a  dull  man  is  hopeless  in 
the  hands  of  a  reporter  who  has  not  learned  the  art  of  interview- 
ing. 

Make  your  subject  live  and  breathe  between  the  lines  of  your 
story.  Stamp  it  so  indelibly  with  his  personality  that  a  stranger 
reading  it  would  afterward  recognize  the  man  from  your  inter- 
view-— that  his  friend  would  feel  that  he  had  had  converse  with 
him. 

If  you  are  a  reporter  on  a  daily  paper  there  are  many  times 
when  you  have  no  warning  of  the  impending  interview.  When 
given  such  an  assignment  you  must  do  your  best  on  the  spur  of 
the  moment  with  the  light  you  have.  But  on  the  other  hand  if 
you  know  beforehand  as  many  times  it  is  quite  possible  to  do — 
as  it  almost  invariably  is  necessary  to  do  if  you  are  getting  your 
interview  for  a  magazine — secure  all  the  information  about  the 
man  or  woman  you  are  to  interview  before  you  call.  Go  to  the 
library,  look  him  up  in  "Who's  Who,"  read  a  bit  of  biography 
if  he  is  famous  enough  to  have  been  accorded  the  honor  of  one — 
saturate  your  mind  with  knowledge  of  him.  Then  you  will  be 
able  to  ask  much  more  intelligent  questions ;  you  can  mould  your 
interview  almost  to  suit  the  especial  needs  of  your  story.  Like 
the  background  of  a  picture  or  the  accompaniment  of  a  song, 
your  character  will  stand  out  in  much  stronger,  more  effective 
relief  if  you  can  surround  it  with  the  proper  setting,  the  atmos- 
phere which  it  demands.  You  must  be  like  a  sponge — absorb 
much  more  than  you  expect  to  give  out  in  order  to  give  out 
enough.  The  most  effective  interview  is  the  one  which  gives 
the  reader  the  impression  that  the  writer  has  acquaintance  with  his 
subject  and  could  have  told  a  lot  more  about  him  if  he  had  wished. 
There  is  great  power  in  the  art  of  repression.  There  is  nowhere 
in  newspaper  work  where  a  little  superficial  knowledge  of  this 


340      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

kind  will  go  farther  than  in  creating  a  background  for  an  in- 
terview. 

Again,  if  you  are  writing  your  interview  for  some  special 
paper  or  magazine,  study  the  policy  of  the  periodical  before 
sketching  your  story.  For  instance:  an  interview  with  the  same 
man  for  a  Hearst  paper  would  require  very  different  handling 
than  one  for  The  Outlook  or  The  Atlantic.  If  sensationalism 
is  the  policy  of  your  journal,  play  up  the  points  that  will  be  the 
most  dramatic,  couch  your  story  in  the  most  vivid,  expressive 
language  you  know,  feature  the  most  unique  points.  If  you  are 
writing  for  a  newspaper  or  magazine  of  more  conservative  tone 
you  will  have  more  opportunity  to  make  your  work  artistic  and 
pay  more  heed  to  literary  forms,  perhaps,  at  the  same  time  not 
losing  sight  of  its  dramatic  value. 

Accentuate  your  powers  of  observation  and  concentration  to 
the  nth  power.  Do  not  let  the  minutest  detail  of  surroundings, 
personality,  dress  or  speech  escape  you.  It  may  be  your  most 
valuable  material  later  on,  when  you  begin  to  write. 

Every  good  newspaper  man  or  woman  is  past  master  of  the 
art  of  journalistic  dentistry.  Remember  that  many  of  the  best 
interviews  like  any  other  story — no,  I  will  say  more  almost,  than 
any  other  story — must  be  extracted  by  the  roots,  and  the  more 
painless  the  process,  the  more  successful  the  job.  It  is  true  that 
many  of  the  most  interesting,  worth-while  people  from  the  stand- 
point of  the  public  and  the  interviewer,  do  not  enjoy  talking 
about  themselves.  If  the  interview  is  to  be  a  very  personal  one 
it  is  most  essential  that  you  get  some  of  this  personal  "business" 
— if  I  may  resort  to  stage  parlance — into  your  story,  and  it  often- 
times requires  great  tact  and  cleverness  to  extract  these  facts. 

When  I  was  a  little  girl  I  had  a  dear  old  grandfather  who  was 
a  clergyman  of  the  old  school.  He  used  first  to  write  his  sermons 
and  then  commit  them  to  memory  as  he  had  a  horror  of  preach- 
ing from  notes.  When  he  had  a  particularly  difficult  ser- 
mon to  commit,  he  always  dressed  up  in  his  Sunday  best  for  he 
said  when  he  looked  well  he  could  always  learn  his  sermon  better ! 

Now  mere  man  may  laugh  if  he  will,  but  for  the  woman  re- 
porter, at  least,  the  psychology  of  clothes — her  own  clothes — is 
one  of  the  most  important  things  to  consider  in  preparation  for 
a  dated  interview.     I  will  even  go  farther  and  say  that  the  psy- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  341 

chology  of  color  is  of  importance,  and  a  clever  woman  will  recog- 
nize this  and  accept  it.  "A  word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient."  Per- 
sonal appearance  is  one  of  the  chief  aids  to  the  proper  getting 
of  an  interview.  The  more  difficult  the  subject  you  must  inter- 
view, the  better  you  must  look  when  you  do  it.  I  once  sent  a 
woman  out  on  a  difficult  assignment,  one  in  which  men  had  failed. 
When  she  came  back  she  had,  according  to  the  popular  parlance 
of  the  day,  ''brought  the  bacon."  When  I  asked  her  how  she 
had  done  it  she  replied  laconically,  "Oh,  I  wore  my  best  hat." 

Keep  your  ideals  high.  First,  make  yourself  worth  believing 
in.  Then  believe  in  yourself,  hard.  There  is  a  world  of  dif- 
ference between  self  confidence  and  conceit.  Self  confidence  is 
believing  in  something  that  exists  in  you.  Conceit  is  merely  the 
artificial  camouflage  of  personal  vanity  and  egotism  as  hollow  as 
air  and  with  nothing  to  justify  it. 

Whenever  I  knew  ahead  of  time  that  I  was  dated  for  an 
interview,  that  was  the  morning  I  took  extra  care  in  dressing  for 
it.  I  dressed  for  the  part  as  carefully  as  I  would  for  a  social 
function,  though  not  in  the  same  clothes !  An  over-inappropriate- 
ly  dressed  woman  would  queer  herself  right  at  the  start  and  de- 
feat the  very  object  for  which  she  strove.  You  must  look  your 
best,  not  so  much  to  make  a  good  impression  upon  the  sub- 
ject— though  that  of  course  has  its  value — but  because  the  well- 
groomed  M^oman  has  better  poise,  better  command  of  herself. 
If  you  know  you  look  well  you  can  forget  yourself.  There  is 
a  sureness  and  a  feeling  of  power  in  a  properly  tailored  suit,  a 
bunch  of  violets  and  a  hat  that  brings  out  the  best  points  of 
your  eyes  and  complexion  that  all  the  courses  in  college  of  jour- 
nalism training  in  the  world  can  never  give  you !  Of  course  it 
doesn't  always  work  but  it  is  a  big  help.  I  have  written  scores 
of  interviews  and  from  those  ten  years  experiences  have  worked 
out  my  own  theory  of  procedure,  but  there  was  one  among  the 
men  I  interviewed  and  only  one,  I  remember,  from  whom  I 
failed  to  get  one  single  thing  I  tried  for.  And  he  was  the  most 
charming  of  them  all !  I  refer  to  Myron  T.  Herrick,  now  Am- 
bassador to  France.  It  was  many  years  ago  when  he  was  spend- 
ing the  winter  in  Pasadena — I  do  not  remember  whether  it  was 
during  the  period  of  his  governorship  of  Ohio  or  not — but  I 
was  told  to  interview  him  on  certain  phases  of  the  political  sit- 


342       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

uation  about  which  my  editor  was  very  anxious  to  have  him 
speak.  We  talked  for  an  hour.  I  never  saw  a  man  in  all  my 
life  who  could  fence  with  words  as  he  did.  He  parried  every 
question  I  asked,  he  diverted  it  and  all  so  tactfully  and  skillfully 
that  I  could  not  possibly  take  offense,  but  neither  could  I  pen- 
etrate his  wall  of  diplomacy.  He  baffled  me  at  every  turn.  I 
had  a  column  interview  on  the  front  page  that  afternoon — but 
not  one  thing  in  it  which  I  went  after.  When  I  got  through  I 
said  to  him:  "Well,  Mr.  Herrick,  you  are  the  first  man  from 
whom  I  could  not  get  one  thing,  one  wee  bit  of  information  I 
sought.  If  ever  you  want  to  qualify  for  the  diplomatic  corps 
call  on  me  for  a  recommendation !"  He  turned  to  me  with  that 
rare  smile  of  his  that  makes  his  the  most  alive  face  I  have  ever 
seen  and  said :  "Well,  if  ever  I  do,  you  shall  be  my  private  sec- 
retary !" 

Years  afterward,  when  he  went  to  Paris  as  American  Am- 
bassador I  could  not  help  wondering  if  I  had  not  been  married 
if  he  would  have  kept  his  word. 

For  an  interview  which  the  reporter  knows  beforehand  he 
is  to  do  he  should  map  out  his  questions  and  plan  of  interview 
with  much  care.  At  one  time  when  I  was  doing  a  series  of  in- 
terviews for  The  Theatre  Magazine  in  New  York,  I  made  up 
my  mind  to  secure  an  interview  with  Sarah  Earnhardt  when 
she  was  playing  at  Venice,  California.  It  had  been  announced 
in  the  Southern  California  newspapers  that  she  would  refuse  all 
interviews.  That  was  oil  to  the  flame  of  my  purpose.  I  knew 
it  would  tax  my  ingenuity  to  get  the  desired  interview.  I 
realized  that  time  would  probably  be  at  a  premium  so  I  not 
only  planned  out  my  interview  but  typed  the  list  of  questions  I 
wished  to  ask  and  left  plenty  of  space  between  as  I  expected 
to  have  to  work  like  mad.  How  I  secured  the  interview  both 
for  my  paper  and  the  magazine  and  was  the  only  person  in 
Southern  California  to  get  one,  to  say  nothing  of  an  autographed 
picture  with  a  personal  message  to  me  on  it,  is  another  story  and 
of  no  interest  to  anyone  but  myself,  but  my  methods  may  be. 
When  I  found  that  every  question  had  first  to  be  given  to  the 
interpreter  I  realized  how  wise  I  had  been  to  have  my  questions 
ready.  I  gave  him  my  notes  and  so  deft  was  he  at  his  job  that 
the  answers  came  back  to  me  in  a  steady  stream  with  no  break 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  343 

in  the  continuity,  and  it  was  a  simple  matter  to  take  the  neces- 
sary notes  and  arrange  them  in  the  story  as  I  wished  later  on. 

There  are  people  whom  the  sight  of  a  pencil  and  paper  in 
the  hands  of  a  reporter,  frighten  into  frigid  silence,  and  because 
of  this  fact  it  is  always  well  to  cultivate  the  art  of  interviewing 
without  taking  many  notes,  none  at  all  would  be  advisable  if  the 
reporter  has  a  sufificiently  good  memory  to  be  trusted.  However, 
when  one  is  working  from  morning  till  night  and  from  night  half 
the  way  back  to  morning,  he  cannot  always  trust  his  memory, 
and  a  few  notes  are  almost  a  necessity.  He  can,  however,  keep  the 
thread  of  the  conversation  unwinding,  and  take  notes  at  the 
same  time  if  he  is  at  all  clever,  and  this  will  help  to  dispel  that 
awful  blankness  which  comes  over  most  people  when  they  feel 
they  are  being  "interviewed." 

It  is  usually  easiest  to  get  the  conversation  started  in  a  sociable 
sort  of  way  and  then  gradually  to  lead  up  to  the  interview.  A 
little  adroitness  on  the  part  of  the  reporter  and  a  little  thought 
beforehand  as  to  the  questions  he  will  ask,  will  greatly  aid  him. 

Interviewing  is  an  art  in  itself,  but  it  is  also  one  of  the 
best  training  schools  for  the  creative,  imaginative  work  which 
every  writer  who  really  loves  his  work  hopes  some  time  to  do. 
There  is  nothing  that  will  give  one  ease  in  handling  conversa- 
tions and  sketching  character  like  interviewing,  at  the  same  time 
giving  the  reporter  a  rich  bank  account  in  the  way  of  character 
types  upon  which  he  may  often  draw  in  the  future.  (Applause). 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  While  Mrs.  Warren  was  reading  what 
she  had  written  regarding  Heads  and  Headlines,  these  lines  were 
handed  up  to  the  Chair.    Permit  me  to  read  them : 

HEADS  AND  TALES 

When  the  man  who  writes  the  story  writes  the  head. 
The  news  will  be  applauded,  when  it's  read, 
By  all,  perhaps,  except  the  City  Ed. 

When  the  man  who  writes  the  story  writes  the  head. 
The  journals  that  are  yellow  will  be  red, 

And  Swift  and  Burke  and  Sterne 

In  their  silent  graves  will  turn, 


344       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Assured  that  they  are  lucky  to  be  dead. 

When  the  man  who  writes  the  story  writes  the  head, 

The  tears  of  Mrs.  Warren  won't  we  shed, 

And  there  won't  be  any  "postscript"  to  be  said. 

The  shuttle  of  the  news  is  swiftly  sped — 
The  paper  simply  has  to  get  to  bed ; 

Of  the  time  that  will  be  lost, 

Let  the  printer  count  the  cost. 
When  the  man  who  writes  the  story  writes  the  head. 


MR.  GUY  INNES :  I  was  struck  indeed  with  the  soundness 
of  Mrs.  Warren's  argument  about  gowns  and  being  properly 
dressed  when  seeking  an  interview.  It  may  interest  you  to  know 
that  so  fully  was  this  recognized  by  one  of  the  Melbourne  papers 
when  the  Prince  of  Wales  visited  Australia,  that  they  made  their 
lady  reporter  a  special  allowance  to  buy  pretty  frocks  when  the 
Prince  was  there. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  Mr.  Henry  Chung,  Korea,  has  presented 
an  invitation  from  the  journalists  of  Korea  to  hold  the  next  ses- 
sion of  the  Congress  in  that  country.  This  invitation  will  be  re- 
ferred with  the  others  to  the  Executive  Committee. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  Congress  is  now  adjourned  until 
nine  o'clock  tomorrow  morning. 


EIGHTH   SESSION 

THURSDAY  MORNING,  OCTOBER  20,  1921. 

The  meeting  was  called  to  order  at  nine  o'clock  a.  m.  by 
President  Williams. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Chair  will  ask  Mr.  William  South- 
ern, Jr.,  United  States,  to  act  as  Secretary  pro  tem  until  the  ar- 
rival of  Mr.  Innes. 

The  Chair  acknowledges  with  thanks  on  behalf  of  the  Con- 
gress the  gift  of  these  beautiful  African  daisies  from  the  chil- 
dren of  the  Manoa  school  in  Honolulu.  They  make  an  excel- 
lent decoration  for  the  stage. 

As  this  is  the  day  set  apart  for  discussion  and  for  considera- 
tion and  votes  upon  the  various  reports  to  be  submitted  to  the 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  345 

Congress,  attention  is  called  to  the  fact  that  the  voting  power  of 
the  Congress  rests  of  course  with  the  delegates  to  the  Congress, 
and  not  with  the  visitors  to  the  Congress. 

For  the  Committee  on  Constitution,  the  Vice-Chairman  of 
that  Committee,  Mr.  F.  P.  Hall  of  New  York,  will  present  the 
report. 

MR.  HALL,  Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World :  The  Constitution  of  this  body  which  was  adopted 
at  San  Francisco  is  a  very  brief  document. 

The  Committee  at  their  meeting  yesterday  afternoon  did  not 
deem  it  advisable  to  alter  it  to  any  great  extent,  and  are  simply 
bringing  at  this  time  a  substitute  to  Article  IV  which  relates  to 
the  Officers.  It  is  deemed  desirable  to  make  some  changes  in 
that  article  and  I  will  read  what  the  Committee  adopted  as  a 
substitute  for  the  present  Article  IV. 

ARTICLE  IV. 

Officers. 

The  officers,  who  with  the  exception  of  the  honorary  Presi- 
dent to  be  chosen  by  the  Governing  Committee,  shall  be  elected 
at  each  session  of  the  Congress,  shall  be  as  follows : 

An  Honorary  President, 

A  President, 

Two  Vice-Presidents  from  each  country  holding  membership, 

A  Secretary-Treasurer, 

A  Governing  Committee,  consisting  of  the  President,  Sec- 
retary-Treasurer and  thirteen  additional  members,  which  shall 
have  general  direction  of  the  activities  of  the  Congress.  The 
members  of  this  Committee  shall  have  power  of  substitution,  and 
may  designate  an  Executive  Committee  of  Five.  Vacancies  shall 
be  filled  by  the  Governing  Committee  upon  recommendation  of 
the  countries  affected. 


The  old  Article  IV  provided  for  a  Committee  consisting  of 
the  President  and  Secretary-Treasurer  and  five  additional  mem- 
bers chosen  from  the  Vice-Presidents.  It  was  deemed  advisable 
to  have  a  somewhat  larger  Executive  Committee,  or  Governing 
Committee  as  we  have  designated  it,  and  that  they  should  desig- 
nate an  Executive   Committee  of   five  to  handle  the   affairs  of 


346      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  body.  That  is  all  the  change  the  Committee  thought  it  wise 
to  make  at  this  time.  I  therefore  present  this  and  move  its 
adoption. 


THE  CHAIRMAN :  You  have  heard  the  motion  made  relat- 
ing to  the  Constitution  by  Mr.  Hall.    What  is  your  pleasure? 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  I  second  the  motion. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  All  in  favor  of  the  motion  to  change  Art- 
icle IV  of  the  Constitution  as  suggested,  please  make  it  known  by 
saying  Aye;  contrary  No. 

The  motion  is  carried  and  the  constitutional  change  is  there- 
by made. 


The  Chair  recognizes  at  this  time  Mr.  Petrie  of  Hongkong 
who  will  present  a  brief  comment  on  several  of  the  papers  pre- 
sented during  this  Congress. 

MR.  PETRIE:  Mr.  President  and  Delegates:  I  did  not  in- 
tend to  trouble  you  with  any  remarks.  I  came  from  Hongkong, 
which  is  represented  for  the  first  time  at  a  gathering  of  this 
kind,  to  listen  and  to  learn,  and  I  must  confess  I  have  listened 
with  the  greatest  of  pleasure  and  learned  not  a  little  from  the 
excellent  papers  submitted. 

It  does  not  follow,  however,  that  I  agree  with  all  that  I 
have  heard,  and,  under  the  disadvantage  of  not  having  the 
text  of  the  various  addresses  to  quote  from,  I  would,  if  you 
will  spare  me  a  few  minutes,  take  just  a  couple  of  points  and 
so  far  relieve  my  mind  before  we  pass  on  to  the  business  of  the 
session. 

We  have  heard  a  great  deal  about  the  liberty  of  the  press, 
and  we  have  all,  myself  included,  applauded  the  views  expressed 
on  this  age-old  subject.  It  has  occurred  to  me,  however,  that 
no  attempt  has  been  made  by  any  of  the  speakers  to  define  the 
extent  of  the  liberty  desired,  whether  it  is  to  be  full  liberty  or 
liberty  within  limits,  if  the  word  liberty  can  be  applied  in  such 
a  sense. 

There  are  "scabs" — ^you  know  what  I  mean — in  most  pro- 
fessions, and  in  the  profession  of  journalism,  I  regret  to  say, 
there  are  men  whom  it  would  be  dangerous  to  trust  with  the 
full  liberty  that  every  honest  journalist  would  like  to  enjoy. 

I  think  a  clear  definition  of  what  is  meant  by  the  term  so  often 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  347 

and  so  glibly  used,  the  liberty  of  the  press,  might  very  well 
come  from  this  Congress. 

It  has  also  occurred  to  me  that  the  excellent  paper  read  by  my 
very  good  friends  and  neighbors,  the  Chinese  delegates,  have 
not  given  due  credit  to  the  sincerely  honest  attempts  of  foreign 
writers  and  newspaper  correspondents  especially,  to  ascertain  and 
tell  the  truth  and  nothing  but  the  truth  about  their  country.  Mr. 
Tong  particularly  made  an  eloquent  appeal  for  justice  and  fair 
play  in  this  connection.  That  so  little  is  known  of  China  and  her 
teeming  millions,  and  that  so  much  misconception  prevails  abroad 
regarding  this  great  land  and  its  promising  people,  is  not  en- 
tirely the  fault  of  the  foreigner.  I  want  the  delegates  to  this 
Congress  to  clearly  understand  that,  and  I  trust  Mr.  Tong  will 
forgive  me  if,  as  close  range  observer  of  his  country  and  people 
for  the  last  twenty-two  years,  I  endeavor  to  temper  some  of  his 
criticism. 

No  foreign  journalist  ventures  abroad  to  deliberately  write 
lies  about  any  country.  He  can  always  do  that  at  home  if  he 
wants  to.  I  make  bold  to  say  that  the  alleged  misrepresenta- 
tion of  China  in  the  foreign  press  is  the  fault  of  the  Chinese 
themselves.  Chinese  ignorance,  suspicion,  self-interest  and  often 
fear,  have  played  a  large  part  in  the  past  in  misinforming  the 
Western  world.  I  am  glad  to  acknowledge  that  these  failings 
are  likely  soon  to  give  way  to  a  better  order.  But  even  today 
there  are  very  few  men  of  the  caliber  of  Mr.  Tong,  Mr.  Wong 
or  Mr.  Hsu  to  give  facts  concerning  the  country  to  which  they 
belong.  Unless  the  foreign  writer  has  access  to  such  men  or 
such  men  make  it  their  business  to  get  into  touch  with  foreign 
writers  in  search  of  information  about  China,  I  can  see  no  im- 
mediate hope  of  the  complaint  that  was  expressed  so  eloquent- 
ly being  remedied.  Despite  the  many  changes  for  the  good 
■which  China  has  witnessed  since  1911,  the  type  of  "Chinee"  de- 
scribed by  Mark  Twain — I  need  not  quote  the  line — is  by  no 
means  extinct,  and  so  long  as  he  exists,  the  writer  of  the  foreign 
press  is  liable  to  be  the  innocent  victim  of  his  fabrications. 

I  speak  from  experience.  The  type  I  refer  to  is  not  peculiar 
to  China,  nor  is  China's  average  any  greater  than  elsewhere. 
But  in  other  countries  where  the  language  barrier  is  not  so  steep 
and  information  is  easier  to  obtain,  the  discreet  foreign  writer 


348       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

is  always  safeg-uarded  against  hitting  the  rock  of  falsehood. 
Here  in  Honolulu  Mr.  Tong  and  his  fellow  Congressmen  from 
Cathay  have  had  a  practical  lesson  in  the  presenting  of  essential 
facts  and  figures  which  should  not  have  been  lost  upon  them 
any  more  than  it  will  be  upon  the  writers  who  are  assembled 
here  from  other  parts  of  the  globe.  I  have  had  many  inquiries 
since  I  came  here  about  China,  and  the  Chinese.  No  doubt  my 
Chinese  friends  have  been  similarly  questioned,  and  no  doubt 
like  myself  they  have  endeavored  to  enlighten  some  of  the  in- 
quirers. But  with  this  question  of  misinformation  before  us, 
it  will  perhaps  astonish  those  delegates  who  have  not  yet  been 
to  China  to  learn  that  in  a  country  embracing  one-fourth  of 
the  population  of  the  world  there  is  scarcely  any  informative 
literature  of  the  type  with  which  we  have  been  so  liberally  supplied 
in  this  relatively  small  territory  of  Hawaii,  and  which  is  so 
common  in  the  United  States  and  elsewhere.  Such  literature 
as  is  available  is  almost  entirely  of  foreign  production.  I  men- 
tion this  to  prove  that  the  foreign  writer  has  invariably  done  his 
best  with  such  information  as  he  could  command,  to  make  China 
known  to  the  world,  that  China  herself  has  done  next  to  nothing 
to  provide  such  enlightenment  as  Mr.  Tong  and  his  colleagues 
would  like  the  world  to  have.  The  correspondent  who  rushes 
through  China  and  writes  to  the  press  does  not  care  to  hunt  for 
facts  in  the  heavy  figure-laden  tomes  of  the  customs  department, 
nor  is  he  interested  in  the  dry-as-dust  volumes  issued  by  the 
statistical  bureau.  He  looks  for  facts  and  figures,  in  terse  and 
attractive  form,  such  as  have  been  presented  to  us  here,  and 
failing  that,  he  is  compelled  to  trust  to  his  own  observations  and 
the  statements  of  individuals  who  may  or  may  not  be  well  in- 
formed. 

If  the  misconception,  misinformation  and  misrepresentation 
for  which  foreign  writers  have  been  blamed  are  to  be  removed, 
China  must  have  cheap,  concise,  attractive,  reliable  and  up-to-date 
literature. 

In  making  this  statement,  I  hope  I  have  removed  any  sus- 
picion that  may  have  been  created  in  your  minds  regarding  the 
general  run  of  foreign  writers  on  China,  and  that  in  venturing 
to  differ  I  have  given  no  offense  to  those  worthy  delegates  from 
China  whose  eloquent  utterances  have  helped  to  illuminate  these 
proceedings.  (Applause). 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  349 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  Chair  has  received  a  number  of 
papers  on  journalism  in  various  countries,  papers  prepared  for 
presentation  to  this  Congress.  If  it  does  not  meet  with  the  dis- 
approval of  the  delegates  to  the  Congress,  these  papers  will  not 
be  read  but  will  be  placed  in  charge  of  the  Committee  which  will 
direct  the  publication  of  the  proceedings  of  the  Congress,  to  be 
used  in  whole  or  in  part  in  the  proceedings  as  that  Committee 
may  deem  best.  If  anyone  has  any  objection  to  that  plan  of 
procedure  he  may  speak  now,  if  there  is  no  objection  it  will  be 
so  ordered. 

COLONEL  LAWSON :  The  first  list  of  resolutions  prepared 
by  the  Committee  is  printed  in  this  morning's  paper,  and  most 
of  you  will  have  read  them.  In  addition  to  that  are  the  follow- 
ing: 

Resolution  proposed  by  Mr.  Hollington  Tong  of  China. 

Resolution  proposed  by  Mr.  Zumoto  of  Japan. 

Another  resolution  presented  by  Mr.  Coutoupis. 

May  I  say  that  the  work  of  the  Resolutions  Committee  con- 
sisted only  in  considering  resolutions  that  were  submitted  by 
members  of  the  Congress,  and  assuring  themselves  that  such 
resolutions  fell  within  the  scope  of  the  Articles  of  Constitution  of 
the  Congress.  The  Committee  only  accepted  one  resolution  on 
any  question,  but,  as  announced  before,  that  will  not  prevent 
any  member  of  the  Congress  from  moving  any  amendment  which 
may  alter  the  meaning  of  any  resolution  which  you  have  had  read 
out  to  you.  Any  alteration  will  be  made  by  discussion  and  ap- 
proved by  the  vote  of  the  Congress. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  You  have  heard  the  report  as  made  by 
the  Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions.  We  will  con- 
sider the  resolutions  proposed  in  the  order  in  which  they  have 
been  presented. 

The  first  resolution,  which  will  be  read  by  the  Secretary,  is 
proposed  by  Mr.  Mark  Cohen  of  New  Zealand. 

THE  SECRETARY :   The  resolution  is  as  follows  : 

(Memberships)  Resolved,  That  memberships  in  the  Press  Congress  of 
the  World  shall  be  of  three  classes  as  follows :  (a)  individual  memberships 
with  dues  of  $5  annually  in  the  coin  of  the  United  States,  (b)  corporate 
memberships  with  dues  of  $50  annually  in  the  coin  of  the  United  States  and 
(c)  sustaining  memberships  to  be  held  by  persons,  corporations  or  insti- 
tutions contributing  any  amount  to  the   support  of  the   Congress. 


h 


350      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Resolved,  further.  That  individual  or  corporate  members  shall  be  entitled 
to  one  vote  at  meetings  of  the  Congress  but  that  sustaining  memberships 
shall  not  include  the  voting  power. 

MR.  MARK  COHEN:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentle- 
men :  The  resolution  which  I  have  the  honor  to  move  on  behalf 
of  the  Committee  on  Nominations,  who  have  had  this  particular 
matter  under  their  consideration  is,  I  venture  to  think,  one  of 
the  most  important,  if  not  the  most  important,  matter  with  which 
this  Congress  will  have  to  deal,  because  it  essays  for  the  first 
time  to  put  the  affairs  of  the  Congress  on  a  suitable  and  per- 
manent financial  footing.  So  important  indeed  is  this  matter, 
that  I  fully  expected  that  every  seat  in  this  room  would  have 
been  occupied  this  morning,  because  it  is  an  open  secret  that 
on  the  attitude  of  the  Congress  towards  the  question  of  finance, 
the  success  of  all  future  Congresses  absolutely  depends. 

This  is  the  second  session  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World  and  if  I  am  rightly  advised,  the  financial  burden  of  the 
Congress  of  1915  and,  to  a  large  extent,  the  cost  of  this  present 
gathering,  will  fall  upon  one  shoulder.  If  our  worthy  President 
were  not  in  the  chair  I  should  be  tempted  to  say  a  good  deal  of 
what  I  know  from  my  absolute  knowledge  as  to  the  part  that 
he  has  himself  played,  not  only  in  shaping  the  deliberations  of 
both  these  Congresses,  but  in  selecting  the  men  to  whom  has  been 
entrusted  the  onerous  duty  of  giving  executive  action  to  your  de- 
liberations, and  if  the  President  will  bear  with  me  I  will  so  far 
let  this  meeting  understand,  that  when  the  Committee  came  to 
consider  the  crucial  matters  underlying  this  question  of  finance. 
Dr.  Williams  met  us  just  in  the  manner  that  might  have  been 
expected  of  a  gentleman  of  his  well-known  characteristics  and 
fine  feelings,  by  telling  us  with  perfect  candor  how  matters  really 
stood,  and  I  am  not  doing  my  colleagues  any  injustice  when  I 
say  to  you  that  that  recital  of  actualities  created  a  deep  impression 
on  our  minds,  and  we  unanimously  resolved  there  and  then  that, 
no  matter  on  whom  the  choice  of  this  Congress  might  fall  as 
to  the  person  most  fitted  to  occupy  the  high  position  of  Presi- 
dent by  reason  of  his  ripened  judgment,  culture,  knowledge  of 
affairs  and  great  experience,  that  that  individual  should  under 
no  circumstances  be  saddled  with  the  thought  of  having  to  finance 
such  a  great  institution  as  this. 

For  my  own  part,  believing  as  I  do  firmly  in  the  validity  of 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  351 

the  principle  of  every  laborer  being  worthy  of  his  hire,  and 
having  preached  it  in  my  own  country  in  every  position  to  which 
the  pubHc  has  been  good  enough  to  call  me,  I  would  be  lacking 
in  my  devotion  to  that  principle  and  would  fail  to  recognize  the 
great  worth  and  manifold  virtues  of  your  present  president, 
were  I  not  to  stand  up  here  and  affirm  with  all  the  strength  at 
my  command  that  now  is  the  time  for  you  delegates  to  show,  not 
only  your  confidence  in  President  Williams  as  a  man  and  as  a 
friend,  but  to  test  your  friendship  and  may  I  say  your  love  for 
the  man,  by  declaring  that  each  and  every  one  of  us  will  do  the 
utmost  in  his  or  her  power,  if  he  will  accept  at  our  hands  today 
a  renewal  of  that  confidence,  coupled  with  the  knowledge  that 
the  finances  of  this  Congress  shall  from  this  day  henceforward 
be  a  matter  entirely  in  our  keeping. 

We  have  been  assured  that  a  sum  ranging  from  sixty  to 
seventy-five  thousand  dollars  is  necessary  to  secure  the  efificient 
running  of  the  machinery  of  this  Congress  and  to  give  to  your 
President  whatever  clerical  assistance  he  finds  it  necessary  to 
employ,  and  we  are  confident  that  the  world's  press  will  have  no 
difficulty  whatever  in  raising  the  necessary  fund  to  accomplish 
this  and  even  more. 

I  ought  to  explain  to  you  that  we  have  very  considerable 
difficulty  in  arriving  at  a  conclusion  as  to  what  should  form  the 
basis  of  future  membership.  In  the  Committee  a  strong  plea 
was  put  up  on  behalf  of  the  poorer  nations  of  Europe,  that  it 
would  not  be  possible  for  them  to  send  representatives  to  future 
Congresses,  if  in  addition  to  having  to  bear  the  cost  of  travel, 
which  is  unnecessarily  high  now  and  is  not  likely  to  be  reduced 
for  some  time  to  come,  they  would  have  to  bear  a  heavy  indi- 
vidual membership  fee,  and  rather  than  see  any  country  debarred 
from  assisting  in  the  deliberations  of  this  organization,  we  had 
no  difficulty  in  reaching  what  I  hope  you  will  consider  to  be  a 
proper  compromise.  We  think  that  no  working  journalist  who 
is  animated  by  a  desire  to  work  for  the  betterment  of  our  pro- 
fession and  for  ameliorating  the  conditions  of  life  in  less  favored 
countries  than  our  own,  will  object  to  the  imposition  of  a  small 
fee  annually,  sufficient  not  only  to  constitute  membership  but  to 
carry  with  it  certain  undefined  advantages.  We  may  have  later 
to  consider  seriously  whether  there  are  not  too  many  persons, 


352       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

styling  themselves  journalists,  who  have  no  valid  claim  to  that 
title  and  who  persist  in  hanging  on  the  fringe  as  it  were  of  a 
Congress  like  this,  merely  for  the  social  advantages  which  such 
a  gathering  entails.  It  will  be  well  worth  consideration  by  the 
Executive,  whether  a  substantial  fee  ought  not  in  future  to  be 
exacted  from  persons  who  legitimately  fall  within  this  category. 

The  Committee  apparently  had  good  reason  for  thinking, 
from  the  enthusiastic  manner  in  which  these  proposals  were  re- 
ceived in  the  Committee,  that  the  wealthy  newspapers  in  dif- 
ferent parts  of  the  world,  particularly  in  English-speaking  coun- 
tries, will  see  it  to  their  advantage  to  subscribe  in  bulk  in  order 
to  enable  them  to  send  from  their  staffs  or  from  their  managerial 
establishments  the  best  men  in  their  service,  and  we  are  more- 
over fortified  with  the  belief  that  there  are  many  great  industrial 
enterprises,  more  or  less  associated  with  journalism,  that  will  also 
find  it  worth  their  while  to  keep  in  active  touch  with  and  to  sup- 
port liberally  an  institution  that  is  capable  of  doing  so  much  good 
for  the  world  of  letters  at  large. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  the  Committee,  which  I  heartily  share, 
that  these  three  resolutions  will  meet  with  your  favorable  con- 
sideration for  the  reasons  which  I  have  attempted  to  adduce,  and 
that  they  will  receive  your  unanimous  endorsement. 

At  a  later  period  of  the  day  it  will  be  my  privilege  as  well 
as  my  duty  as  the  mouthpiece  of  this  Committee,  to  submit  for 
your  acceptance  not  only  the  name  that  will  I  am  sure  be  re- 
ceived with  the  heartiest  demonstration  of  approval,  but  the 
names  of  gentlemen  also  who  will  bring  to  the  assistance  of 
your  new  President  a  large  measure  of  that  enthusiasm  which, 
during  the  past  six  years,  he  has  brought  to  bear  on  the  suc- 
cessful administration  of  the  affairs  of  this  Congress,  and  who, 
like  himself,  will  spare  themselves  neither  time,  money  nor  ef- 
fort to  carry  on  the  great  and  beneficent  work  which  Dr.  Wil- 
liams so  successfully  inaugurated  at  San  Francisco  in  the  summer 
of  1915.  (Applause). 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  present  occupant  of  the  chair  may 
be  permitted,  I  trust,  to  hope  that  his  name  may  be  eliminated 
from  any  discussion  of  a  matter  so  important  and  far-reaching 
as  that  we  have  under  consideration.  While  he  is  grateful  for 
what  has  been  said  by  his  friend  from  New  Zealand  let  us  omit 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  353 

the  personal  note  from  a  discussion  of  so  much  importance. 

Mr.  James  Wright  Brown  of  New  York  has  something  to 
say. 

MR.  BROWN :  It  seems  to  me  that  Mr.  Cohen  has  covered 
this  resolution  adequately.  If  there  is  any  emphasis  I  should 
add  to  what  he  has  said,  it  is  along  the  line  of  application  by 
the  individual  delegates.  Obviously  this  sum  of  from  twelve  thou- 
sand to  fifteen  thousand  dollars  is  not  going  to  be  raised  without 
the  whole-hearted  cooperation  of  every  delegate  to  this  Congress. 
We  are  at  the  threshold  of  a  new  era  in  international  journalism 
and  in  international  relations  also,  a  new  era  that  can  best  be 
inaugurated  by  a  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  journalists 
of  the  world.  It  would  be  manifestly  unfair  for  us,  it  seems  to 
me,  to  go  forward  as  we  have  been  going  this  last  five  or  six 
years,  dependent  upon  the  consecrated  devotion  of  a  few  men, 
more  especially  one  man. 

This  resolution  is  really  a  compromise  resolution.  Some  mem- 
bers of  the  Nominations  Committee — and  I  think  I  may  say  that 
the  Nominations  Committee  has  worked  hard  and  given  a  great 
deal  of  thought  and  devotion  to  the  problem  put  before  them, 
and  I  think  it  only  fair  to  say  the  same  of  the  Committees  on 
Resolutions  and  Constitution, — the  thing  that  has  impressed  me 
about  the  whole  of  the  Congress  sessions  is  first,  the  dominant 
mastery  of  the  Chairman  who  has  forced  us  to  come  at  nine  in 
the  morning  and  stay  until  five  in  the  afternoon,  and  second,  the 
earnest,  sincere,  and  devoted  way  in  which  the  delegates  have 
given  careful  thought  and  attention  to  the  papers  that  have  been 
read  and  have  voiced  their  yearning  for  better  times  and  better 
days. 

Some  of  our  overseas  delegates  thought  that  ten  dollars  for 
individual  membership  was  a  little  high,  so  it  was  made  five 
dollars.  Some  of  the  members  of  the  Nominations  Committee 
thought  that  the  price  for  membership  should  be  twenty-five  dol- 
lars while  some  thought  that  it  would  be  just  as  easy  to  get  fifty 
dollars  as  twenty-five  dollars.  Obviously  we  must  have  funds. 
We  cannot  function  in  journalistic  interest  or  public  interest  un- 
less we  have  ample  funds. 

Colonel  Lawson  has  suggested  that  I  explain  to  you  what 
corporate  membership  means.    The  plan  is  briefly  this:  that  del- 

23- 


354       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

egates  may  have  individual  interest  in  the  Congress,  and  that 
the  great  newspapers  may  have  membership  in  the  Congress  so 
they  may  send  delegates  to  represent  their  newspapers ;  and  the 
third  is  sustaining  membership,  by  which  the  allied  interests  might 
contribute  to  the  support  of  this  work.  Sustaining  membership, 
it  is  optional  with  the  member  as  to  whether  he  contribute  one 
hundred  dollars,  two  hundred  dollars  or  a  thousand  dollars,  or 
any  other  sum  to  the  maintenance  of  this  work. 

It  seems  to  me  that  this  resolution  is  very  closely  associated 
with  another  resolution  that  comes  before  you  this  afternoon. 
If  the  Chair  will  permit  I  should  like  to  explain  that  this  other 
resolution  is  a  very  modest  resolution  but  it  seems  to  me  that 
it  provides  the  machinery  for  greater  activity  of  the  Congress 
than  ever  before.  Someone  has  said  that  the  simple  things  of 
life  are  faith,  love  and  hope.  This  is  a  simple  little  thing  but 
it  provides  the  machinery  for  permanent  standing  committees. 
It  provides  for  news  communication  between  members  situated 
throughout  the  world ;  for  a  standing  committee  on  the  freedom 
of  the  press — in  reality  a  grievance  committee  where  the  griev- 
ances of  journalists  may  be  submitted  with  the  firm  knowledge 
that  such  grievances  will  have  a  careful  hearing  and  investiga- 
tion; a  standing  committee  on  interchange  of  journalists;  also 
a  committee  on  journalistic  education;  another  on  ethics  of  jour- 
nalism and  standard  of  practice  and  another  standing  committee 
for  the  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  journalists.  It  is  hoped  that 
we  may  be  able  to  institute  a  system  of  bulletins,  weekly,  month- 
ly, semi-monthly  or  bi-monthly  bulletins  that  will  keep  the  jour- 
nalists of  the  world  informed  as  to  activities  throughout  the 
world — on  communications  for  example.  If  there  is  interference 
with  the  delivery  and  distribution  of  news  to  Hawaii  and  the  Pa- 
cific, it  would  be  the  duty  of  this  committee  to  make  an  investiga- 
tion and  publish  the  facts  to  the  members  of  the  Congress  through- 
out the  world.  You  can  see  that  through  this  system  of  bulletins 
we  would  have  co-ordination  to  a  greater  extent  than  ever  before. 
I  am  in  hearty  sympathy  with  it  and  hope  the  resolution  will  be 
adopted.   I  second  Mr.  Cohen's  resolution. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  All  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the 
resolution  on  membership  as  proposed  by  Mr.  Cohen  and  sec- 
onded by  Mr.  Brown  will  please  make  it  known  by  saying  aye. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  355 

The  resolution  is  unanimously  adopted. 

The  Secretary  will  read  resolution  number  two,  proposed 
by  Mr.  DeRackin. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

Resolved:  by  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  in  session  at  Honolulu, 
this  eighteenth  day  of  October,  1921,  that  as  a  first  and  very  proper  step 
in  the  direction  of  a  better  understanding  between  the  people  of  the  world, 
that  the  international  conference  soon  to  assemble  in  Washington,  at  the 
invitation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  be  requested  to  admit  the 
representatives  of  the  Press  to  all  sessions  of  said  conference. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  In  the  absence  of  Mr.  DeRackin,  will 
some  delegate  in  sympathy  with  the  resolution  move  its  adop- 
tion? 

MR.  BROWN :  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolution. 

MR  McCLATCHY:  I  second  it. 

COLONEL  LAWSON:  I  rather  hesitate  to  speak  on  this 
matter  as  I  do  not  wish  to  be  proclaimed  as  an  advocate  of  secret 
diplomacy.  I  am  as  strongly  opposed  to  secret  diplomacy  as  any 
one  of  the  delegates  here  present.  But  as  I  understand  secret 
diplomacy  it  means  arrangements  between  certain  groups  of  na- 
tions to  which  other  nations  are  not  a  party. 

At  Washington  where  there  is  a  conference  in  which  almost 
every  nation  in  the  world  is  represented,  there  can  be  no  ques- 
tion of  secret  diplomacy.  It  is  the  history  of  representative  in- 
stitutions all  over  the  world  that  most  of  the  business  is  accom- 
plished in  committee.  Here  where  there  is  a  mass  of  detail  to 
be  discussed  on  subjects  regarding  which  many  of  the  nations 
hold  directly  opposing  views,  it  may  be  impossible  to  get  the 
business  transacted  in  open  session. 

There  is,  I  think,  in  this  a  double  danger.  Firstly,  that  you 
will  only  get  business  transacted  in  which  there  is  a  certainty  of 
agreement.  Secondly,  there  will  be  nothing  but  the  delivery  of 
set  speeches  embodying  the  sentiments  which  all  of  us  hold  about 
peace.  I  want  to  see  something  done,  not  hear  something  said, 
and  I  think  that  the  greatest  danger  of  all  in  adopting  this 
motion  would  be  that  you  would  set  up  the  situation  that  you  wish 
to  avoid,  and  that  most  of  its  business  would  be  transacted  by 
nations  and  groups  of  nations  in  private  committees  before  they 
went  into  session. 

I  move  this  amendment,  because  even  if  it  is  lost  I  wish  it  to 


356      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

be  understood  that  there  is  another  point  of  view,  and  if  the 
representatives  of  any  nation  be  found  holding  this  point  of  view, 
it  does  not  mean  that  they  are  not  sincere  in  their  desire  to  co- 
operate to  secure  peace  and  disarmament. 

I  want  also  to  emphasize  the  fact  that  I  am  the  last  to  uphold 
the  principles  of  secret  diplomacy.  I  should  prefer  that  a  reso- 
lution of  this  kind  should  read,  as  to  the  second  part  of  it,  "That 
the  international  conference  soon  to  assemble  in  Washington, 
at  the  invitation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  be  re- 
quested to  ensure  that  as  far  as  compatible  with  the  transactions 
of  its  business,  representatives  of  the  press  should  be  admitted  to 
sessions  of  the  conference." 

MR.  COHEN :  I  second  the  amendment. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  I  am  going  to  ask  for  the  information 
of  all  of  us  that  the  original  resolution  be  read  again  and  have 
Colonel  Lawson  say  which  portion  he  wishes  to  amend.  (Resolu- 
tion and  amendment  read.) 

MR.  COHEN:  I  would  like  to  thank  Colonel  Lawson  for 
the  privilege  of  seconding  his  amendment,  not  because  I  am  in 
hearty  agreement  with  all  he  said  but  because  I  recognize  there 
are  very  serious  difficulties  in  the  way  of  giving  efifect  to  what 
I  know  to  be  the  wishes  of  this  Conference  and  the  civilized 
world.  One  has  to  bear  in  mind  when  discussing  questions  that 
may  affect  the  whole  being  of  millions  of  people,  that  those  who 
represent  those  peoples  are  stimulated  by  a  desire,  if  it  be  pos- 
sible, to  achieve  some  tangible  results  in  their  deliberations,  and 
speaking  with  an  experience  of  nearly  half  a  century  as  a  re- 
porter and  public  man,  I  have  no  hesitation  in  stating  that  there 
are  times  when  it  becomes  absolutely  necessary  for  those  in 
charge  of  public  affairs  and  matters  of  such  a  delicate  nature  as 
now  have  to  be  discussed,  that  it  is  in  the  interest  of  general 
peace  that  those  particular  matters  should  be  withdrawn  as  it 
were  from  the  gaze  of  the  general  public. 

The  complaint  against  secret  diplomacy  in  the  past  has  been 
that  actual  decisions  have  been  reached  about  which  the  peoples 
whose  destinies  are  affected  by  these  conclusions  were  unaware 
until  their  representatives  met  in  their  respective  parliaments  and 
tried  to  explain  what  had  taken  place.  There  is  always  some  ex- 
cuse put  forward  to  camouflage  the  action  of  those  proceedings. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  357 

and  that  is  why  I  think  most  people  wish  to  see  secret  diplomacy 
done  away  with.  There  may  be  of  course,  when  before  even  a 
report  is  finally  read,  matters  sufficiently  advanced  to  enable  the 
world  at  large  to  weigh  what  is  in  the  minds  of  the  contracting 
parties,  and  at  such  conferences  or  meetings  the  accredited  rep- 
resentatives of  the  press  should  be  allowed  to  be  present  to 
watch  the  proceedings.  Of  course  the  difficulty  I  know — and  I 
have  been  privileged  to  attend  at  meetings  of  a  similar  char- 
acter— has  been  not  that  the  record  of  the  proceeding  is  not 
given  to  the  public  but  that  too  often  the  views  of  the  individual 
reporter  for  a  paper  are  set  before  the  public.  That  complaint 
has  been  voiced  over  and  over  again  and  will  be  voiced  still 
until  it  is  impressed  upon  the  minds  of  the  men  who  go  as  the 
representatives  of  the  press,  that  the  responsibility  is  not  theirs 
to  do  as  they  wish  or  to  write  as  they  think,  but  that  they  shall 
record  without  fear  or  favor  the  actual  phrases  of  the  men  who 
propound  the  policies  governing  the  world.  Given  always  a  fair 
and  accurate  and  faithful  report  of  those  proceedings,  I  don't 
think  anyone  would  object. 

With  regard  to  the  Washington  Conference,  the  world  is  just 
now  reaching  its  most  serious  moment  and  upon  what  is  done 
at  that  Conference  the  happiness  of  the  world  rests.  If  the  men 
who  represent  the  press  there  are  animated  with  the  desire  for 
peace,  which  we  all  hope  for,  a  peace  lasting  in  time,  a  peace  that 
will  endure,  then  by  all  means  let  the  world  at  large  know  what 
the  people  are  expected  to  do  and  I  think  you  will  find  that  pub- 
lic opinion  throughout  the  world  will  agree  to  any  form  of  dis- 
armament and  permanent  peace  which  the  world  is  thirsting  for 
today. 

MR.  FRANK  O.  EDGECOMBE:  I  also  wish  to  support 
the  amendinent  of  Colonel  Lawson.  I  hope  to  see  the  Washing- 
ton Conference  reduce  oratorical  action  and  fine  phrases  to  ac- 
complishment, and  I  do  not  believe  that  in  our  own  experience 
with  our  national  Congress  at  Washington  and  any  other  delib- 
erative body  of  a  similar  character,  that  things  that  ought  to  be 
done  can  be  done  as  we  are  asking  by  this  original  resolution 
to  have  them  done. 

I  believe  also  that  we  should  save  our  faces.  It  is  not  likely 
that  any  resolutions  we  adopt  here  will  have  great  influence  upon 


358       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

what  the  accredited  delegates  from  the  numerous  countries  de- 
cide is  the  right  thing  to  do,  and  even  if  we  could  influence  their 
decision,  it  would  not  be  to  the  interests  of  the  Press  Congress 
to  attempt  to  do  so  (Hear,  hear)  and  I  believe  something  in  the 
form  of  the  amendment  suggested  by  Colonel  Lawson  would  be 
more  satisfactory  from  every  point  of  view  than  to  hanker  for 
something  that  would  probably  not  be  granted  and  which  if 
granted  might  be  unwise. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  Before  we  proceed  further  the  Sec- 
retary will  read  the  resolution  in  its  original  form,  and  then  the 
resolution  as  amended  as  Colonel  Lawson  proposed. 

THE  SECRETARY:  In  its  original  form  the  resolution  is 
as  follows: 

Resolved:  By  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  in  session  at  Honolulu,  h 

this  eighteenth  day  of  October,  1921,  that  as  a  first  and  very  proper  step  '/ 

in  the  direction  of  a  better  understanding  between  the  peoples  of  the  world,  \ 

that  the  international  conference  soon  to  assemble  in  Washington,  at  the  in-  % 

vitation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  be  requested  to  admit  the  \ 

representatives  of  the  Press  to  all  sessions  of  said  conference.  '| 

The  amendment  to  take  its  place  reads:  |. 

Resolved,  By  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  in  session  at  Honolulu  | 

this  eighteenth  day  of  October,  1921,  that  as  a  first  and  very  proper  step  t 

in  the  direction  of  a  better  understanding  between  the  peoples  of  the  world,  j'j 

that  the  international  conference  soon  to  assemble  in  Washington,  at  the  \-^ 

invitation  of  the  President  of  the  United  States,  be  requested  to  ensure 
that,  as  far  as  compatible  with  the  transaction  of  its  business,  representatives 
of  the  Press  should  be  admitted  to  sessions  of  the  Conference. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  It  seems  to  me  that  we  may  without 
discourtesy  expedite  matters  and  save  a  great  deal  of  trouble,  and 
I  therefore  submit  to  Mr.  Brown,  who  moved  the  original  reso- 
lution, if  he  does  not  think  it  will  be  discourteous  to  Mr.  De- 
Rackin,  to  accept  the  amendment  in  place  of  the  original  resolu- 
tion. 

MR.  BROWN :  I  would  say  that  I  am  very  strongly  in  favor 
of  the  original  motion  and  very  strongly  opposed  to  the  amend- 
ment, and  I  would  like  to  say  further  that  it  seems  to  me  that 
this  Congress  should  concern  itself  with  fundamental  principles 
and  ideas.  We  should  not  be  concerned  with  matters  of  ex- 
pediency; we  are  on  the  road  up  the  hill  to  the  ultimate  parlia- 
ment of  man  and  we  expect  some  day  to  attain  that  ideal. 

I  recall  distinctly  a  talk  I  had  with  Lord  Northcliffe  in  New 


4 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  359 

York,  on  the  occasion  of  his  recent  visit  there.  He  told  me 
about  the  arrival  of  the  delegates  from  Czecho-Slovakia  at  the 
Paris  Conference.  The  delegate  said  to  Clemenceau:  "It  will 
take  me  seven  hours  time  to  read  my  paper  to  the  Conference," 
and  I  said :  "Perhaps  mankind  would  have  been  better  off  if 
the  delegate  had  been  given  his  seven  hours  time,  because  ever 
since  the  Paris  Conference,  mankind  has  been  debating  the  mat- 
ters supposed  to  have  been  settled." 

I  very  firmly  believe  that  in  the  first  international  Conference 
in  Washington  there  should  be  the  utmost  frankness,  there  should 
be  no  committee  meetings  or  session  meetings  at  which  repre- 
sentatives of  the  press  are  not  present.  The  newspapers  of  the 
world  are  going  to  get  the  news  obviously.  So  far  as  getting 
the  news  is  concerned,  it  matters  little  whether  secret  sessions 
are  held  or  not,  but  the  point  is  that  a  good  deal  of  this  so- 
called  news  wirelessed  throughout  the  world  is  going  to  be  con- 
jectured, surmised,  and  it  will  unavoidably  be  misinterpreted. 
When  you  look  the  other  man  in  the  eye  and  give  him  some  idea 
of  your  aspirations  and  you  do  as  Mr.  Cohen  has  said,  viz : 
put  all  the  cards  on  the  table  in  the  white  light,  the  shining  light 
of  publicity,  you  are  not  going  to  be  misinterpreted.  The  people 
will  know  what  you  want  and  what  you  expect. 

It  seems  to  me  that  on  the  basis  of  consideration  of  prin- 
ciples and  ideals  alone,  this  original  resolution  should  be  adopted 
and  the  amendment  voted  down. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  Chair  may  be  permitted  to  state 
that  without  any  instructions  from  the  Congress,  in  order  to  ac- 
complish the  business  of  the  session,  speeches  will  be  limited  to 
five  minutes  from  this  time  on. 

MR.  GLASS  :  I  think  that  Mr.  Brown  has  in  a  considerable 
measure  answered  himself,  and  has  also  shown  the  strength  and 
wisdom  of  Colonel  Lawson's  amendment  when  he  says  that 
newspaper  men  are  going  to  get  the  news  anyway.  I  have  been 
in  Washington  a  good  deal,  and  if  ever  there  was  a  secret  in 
Washington  for  twenty-four  hours,  I  have  never  heard  of  it. 
The  results  of  the  executive  sessions  of  the  Senate  are  known 
five  minutes  after  the  sessions  adjourn,  and,  with  the  army  of 
magazine  correspondents  and  the  army  of  newspaper  cor- 
respondents   from    all    over    the    world,  there  is  not  going  to 


360      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

be  anything  worth  knowing  about  that  Disarmament  Conference 
and  its  dehberations  that  will  not  be  known  right  away. 
The  Paris  Conference  was  supposed  to  be  secret  and  it 
lasted  six  months.  If  you  throw  open  this  Conference  to  the 
gallery,  it  will  last  for  a  year,  and  everybody  will  be  speaking  to 
the  gallery — Japan,  Great  Britain,  the  United  States,  France  and 
all  the  rest.  Let  us  have  action  and  don't  let  us  interfere  too 
much.     I  thoroughly  agree  with  Colonel  Lawson's  amendment. 

MR.  INNES :  Gentlemen,  I  would  like  to  support  Colonel 
Lawson's  amendment,  very  largely  for  the  reason  set  forth  by 
Mr.  Glass.  I  think  the  form  in  which  Colonel  Lawson  has 
couched  the  amendment  is  a  dignified  one.  It  is  advisable  not 
to  strive  for  the  unattainable  and  this  will  meet  the  desires  of 
the  Congress. 

MR.  ZUMOTO :  Mr.  President,  as  this  matter  has  been  fully 
threshed  out  by  the  preceding  speakers,  all  that  is  needed  of  me 
is  to  say  that  I  am  in  full  accord  with  the  sentiments  expressed, 
by  Colonel  Lawson  in  proposing  his  amendment.  It  may,  however, 
be  interesting  to  you  to  know  that  a  few  days  before  my.  de- 
parture from  Japan,  The  Disarmament  Society  of  Japan  pro- 
posed a  resolution  similar  to  the  one  introduced  by  Mr.  DeRackin. 
I  was  among  those  who  opposed  it  on  grounds  almost  exactly  like 
those  expressed  by  Colonel  Lawson.  It  was  laid  aside  at  the 
meeting  I  attended,  but  at  the  next  meeting  which  circumstances 
prevented  me  from  attending,  it  was  brought  up  again  and 
passed  unanimously,  and  the  message  was  at  once  telegraphed 
to  Washington  asking  that  the  sessions  of  the  Pacific  and  Dis- 
armament Conferences  be  fully  opened  to  the  public.  I  believe 
this  was  a  mistake.  I  have  too  high  a  regard  for  the  reputation 
of  this  Congress  as  an  assembly  of  sensible  and  practical  men, 
to  let  this  opportunity  pass  without  a  word  of  protest  against 
the  resolution  as  originally  framed. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  All  in  favor  of  the  amendment  as  pro- 
posed by  Colonel  Lawson  and  seconded  by  Mr.  Cohen  will  make 
it  known  by  saying  Aye.   Contrary  minded  No. 

The  amendment  is  carried. 

MR.  BROWN :  I  rise  to  move  that  it  be  carried  unanimously. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  All  in  favor  of  the  resolution  as  amend- 
ed will  make  it  known  by  saying  Aye.  The  amendment  is  car- 
ried unanimously. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  361 

MR.  COHEN :  I  would  like  to  thank  Mr.  Brown  for  his  fine 
action. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Secretary  will  report  the  next  reso- 
lution moved  by  Col.  Lawson  on  international  press  communica- 
tion. 

THE  SECRETARY:  I  will  read  the  resolution: 
International  Press  Communications:  This  Congress  declares  that,  in  the 
interests   of    world   amity    and   of    better    international    understanding    and 
sympathy,  telegraphic   facilities   for   the  general   interchange  of   news   and 
press  comment  should  be  greatly  cheapened,  improved,  and  extended :  and, 

That  the  representatives  of  the  world's  press  here  assembled  in  con- 
ference, undertake,  in  their  respective  countries,  to  press  by  all  legitimate 
means  for  the  establishment  of  lower  rates  for  press  messages,  whether  by 
land  telegraph,  submarine  cable,  or  wireless  telegraphy,  and  for  the  im- 
provement and  extension  of  such  means  of  communication. 

COLONEL  LAWSON:  I  have  already  spoken  about  this 
resolution  at  considerable  len^h.  I  don't  intend  to  say  any  more. 
In  view  of  the  resolution  which  we  have  just  carried  I  will  re- 
peat this  part  of  it :  That  I  consider  that  disarmament  in  itself 
is  nothing  at  all  and  it  is  no  use  in  limiting  the  means  of  fighting 
if  you  leave  the  desire  to  fight.  The  surest  way  to  eliminate  the 
desire  to  fight  is  to  improve  our  knowledge  of  each  other,  and 
that  can  only  be  done  by  extending,  cheapening,  and  improving 
the  means  of  international  communication. 

MR.  COHEN :  I  second  the  resolution. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  Colonel  Lawson  moves  and  Mr.  Cohen 
seconds  the  resolution  as  reported  to  you.  Are  you  ready  for 
the  question?    All  in  favor  say  Aye,  contrary  No. 

The  resolution  is  unanimously  carried. 

The  Secretary  will  report  the  next  resolution,  proposed  by 
Mr.  McClatchy. 

THE  SECRETARY:  The  following  is  resolution  number 
four: 

Realizing  the  vital  necessity  for  interchange  of  reliable,  uncontrolled 
and  uncensored  news  reports  between  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  if  mis- 
understandings are  to  be  avoided  and  peace  maintained: 

Appreciating  the  action  of  Congress  of  United  States  in  authorizing 
the  use  of  United  States  Navy  radio  facilities  for  trans-oceanic  news  com- 
munication at  a  word  rate  which  has  encouraged  the  development  of 
comprehensive  daily  trans-pacific  news  reports : 

Realizing  the  fact  that  continuation  of  this  policy  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States,  with  co-operation  from  other  nations  on  the  shores 


362       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

of  the  Pacific,  will  insure  permanent  communication  across  that  ocean, 
and  encourage  similar  conditions  in  other  portions  of  the  globe; 

Understanding  that  in  no  other  way  at  this  time,  is  it  practicable 
to  insure  satisfactory  news  communication  across  the  Pacific  and  that 
the  present  service  must  cease  in  July  1922,  if  Congress  fails  to  renew 
authorization  to  the  Navy  Department; 

The  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  in  session  assembled  at  Hono- 
lulu, expresses  its  warm  appreciation  of  the  initiative  thus  taken  by 
the  United  States  in  practical  peace  promotion,  by  fostering  the  de- 
velopment of  independent  uncensored  news  communication  with  other 
countries,  and  trusts  that  the  U.  S.  Congress  will  not  permit  lapse  or 
discontinuance  of  the  present  service. 

The  Press  Congress  of  the  World  further  commends  the  policy 
thus  established  by  the  United  States  to  the  careful  consideration  of 
other  nations  in  the  hope  that  through  co-operation  all  parts  of  the 
world  may  in  time  enjoy  such  interchange  of  reliable  news  as  is  now 
possible  on  the  Pacific;  and  pledges  its  members  in  their  respective 
countries,  to  the  promotion  of  such  a  policy. 

MR.  McCLATCHY :  I  think  it  unnecessary  to  make  a  speech 
on  this  matter.  My  paper  covered  the  fundamental  facts  upon 
which  the  resolution  was  based.  May  I  say  only  this.  You 
have  shown  by  unanimous  endorsement  of  Colonel  Lawson's 
resolution  the  sentiments  of  this  Congress  as  to  the  necessity  of 
the  free  interchange  of  news  communications  throughout  the 
world.  The  principles  are  good  but  none  of  us  can  accomplish 
anything  if  we  confine  ourselves  to  generalities.  The  Press  Con- 
gress of  the  World  has  a  remarkable  opportunity  to  demonstrate 
its  usefulness  by  doing  something  practical.  President  Harding 
in  his  address  intimated  that  he  would  be  glad  to  receive  and 
thought  he  might  receive  suggestions  from  this  Congress  look- 
ing forward  to  maintaining  the  peace  of  the  world.  Here  is 
a  concrete  example  in  which  we  can  suggest. 

The  papers  which  you  see  published  in  Honolulu  carrying 
complete  press  reports  are  the  development  of  that  plan.  It 
is  only  necessary  to  extend  that  plan  through  other  countries  to 
secure  on  the  part  of  all  peoples  and  countries  of  the  Pacific 
ocean  that  intercommunication  of  news  which  must  prevent 
propaganda  and  misunderstandings.  Let  us  not  neglect  this  op- 
portunity. Let  us  not  only  interest  the  United  States  in  estab- 
lishing a  plan  of  this  kind  but  urgently  ask  that  they  do  not  per- 
mit that  plan  to  be  killed  by  failure  to  provide  the  means  by 
which  that  plan  may  be  continued  and  extended. 


I 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  363 

MR.  PETRIE:  I  second  the  resolution. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  There  being  no  further  remarks  on  the 
resolution  as  proposed  and  seconded,  those  in  favor  make  it 
known  by  saying  Aye,  contrary  No. 

The  resolution  is  unanimously  carried. 

COLONEL  LAWSON :  On  behalf  of  the  Resolutions  Com- 
mittee I  would  like  to  announce  there  will  be  a  short  session  of 
that  Committee  immediately  after  this  session,  in  order  to  look 
through  some  resolutions  recently  submitted.  I  am  sorry  it  is 
necessary  to  call  the  Resolutions  Committee  again,  but  if  del- 
egates will  not  pay  any  attention  to  announcements  made  we  have 
to  do  the  best  we  can. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  In  that  event  the  Chair  will  submit  some 
resolutions  just  handed  to  him  by  delegates  from  Latin  America. 

The  Secretary  will  read  the  next  resolution  which  is  pro- 
posed by  Mr.  Sugimura  of  Japan. 

THE  SECRETARY:  The  resolution  reads: 
Whereas  :  The  influence  of  and  future  growth  in  sphere  of  general  use- 
fulness of  the  press  of  the  world  must  necessarily  depend  upon  the  stand- 
ards which  are  set  by  its  great  power  for  good  or  evil,  and  that  these  stand- 
ards can  be  best  attained  through  the  training  of  journalists  along  the 
broadest  and  most  wholesome  lines ;  then  be  it 

Resolved :  That  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  here  assembled  gives 
its  heartiest  indorsement  and  moral  support  to  the  work  that  is  being  done 
in  various  ways  for  the  training  and  education  along  the  broadest  and  high- 
est lines  of  young  men  and  women  in  those  things  that  may  best  serve  the 
newspapers  and  the  public  in  their  profession  of  journalism. 

MR.  WONG:  I  second  it. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  Are  there  any  further  remarks  on  the 
motion  to  adopt  this  resolution?  There  appearing  to  be  none, 
all  in  favor  of  its  adoption  say  Aye,  contrary  No.  It  is  unani- 
imously  adopted. 

The  Secretary  will  now  report  the  next  resolution,  by  Mr. 
Ludvig  Saxe. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

Whereas,  it  is  understood  that  there  is  at  diis  time  being  formed 
in  Belgium  an  international  press  union  which  is  to  be  composed  of  rep- 
resentatives of  those  countries  included  in  the  League  of  Nations ;  and 
whereas  it  is  desirable  that  if  possible  one  great  international  Press  Union 
should  be  formed,  therefore  be  it 

Resolved:  That  the  Congress  ask  the  Executive  Committee  to  direct  its 
attention  to  the  international  press  union  with  a  view  to  co-operation  if 
found  practical  so  that  duplication  of  effort  may  be  avoided. 


364      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

MR.  SAXE :  Some  months  ago  the  Belgian  Press  Associa- 
tion sent  an  invitation  to  press  associations  in  different  coun- 
tries, asking  them  to  send  delegates  to  a  congress  in  Brussells, 
with  the  intention  to  constitute  an  International  Press  Union. 
It  was  the  understanding  that  admission  should  be  open  to  jour- 
nalists from  the  political  dailies  in  the  allied  and  neutral  coun- 
tries within  the  League  of  Nations.  An  invitation  was  received 
also  by  the  Norwegian  Press  Association,  but  we  could  not  ac- 
cept it. 

The  Congress  in  Belgium  probably  has  been  held  ere  this 
and  the  new  International  Press  Union  probably  has  been  consti- 
tuted. As  far  as  I  know  it  should  be  discussed  in  Belgium  as  to 
whether  admission  should  also  be  open  to  journalists  from  coun- 
tries outside  the  League  of  Nations. 

Nobody  can  say  at  this  moment  how  that  Press  Union  will 
develop,  but  it  may  happen  that  it  will  become  a  great  interna- 
tional association  and  I  think  it  would  be  wise  if  the  Executive 
Committee  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  would  have  its 
attention  directed  to  the  new  Union.  It  might  be  desirable  to 
get  into  contact  with  it  and  possibly  co-operate  with  it. 

MR.  GLASS :  I  second  the  resolution. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  All  in  favor  of  this  resolution  say 
Aye,  contrary  No. 

The  motion  is  carried  unanimously. 

The  seventh  resolution  is  by  Mr.  Hin  Wong.  The  Secretary 
will  please  read  the  resolution. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

Resolved :  That  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  shall  instruct  its  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  to  confer  with  representatives  of  the  Chinese  delegation 
to  the  conference  with  a  view  to  the  possibility  of  appointing  at  their  request 
a  commission  to  study  the  present  condition,  extent,  and  methods  of  Chinese 
foreign  press  service  with  a  view  to  recommending  means  of  improvement 
if  necessary. 

MR.  HIN  WONG:  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolution. 

MR.  ZUMOTO:  I  second  the  motion. 

MR.  HENRY  CHUNG:  Mr.  Chairman,.  I  am  in  hearty  ac- 
cord with  my  friend  Mr.  Wong  of  China  in  supporting  the  reso- 
lution presented  by  him.  It  will  be  a  good  thing  for  China,  and 
consequently  it  will  be  a  good  thing  for  a  country  closely  allied 
with  China  both  by  racial  ties  and  territorial  propinquity,  Korea. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  365 

For  that  reason,  Mr.  Chairman,  I  propose  the  following  amend- 
ment to  Mr.  Wong's  resolution : 

Resolved,  that  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  shall  instruct  its  Ex- 
ecutive Committee  to  empower  the  same  Commission  to  make  a  similar  in- 
quiry into  the  present  condition,  extent  and  methods  of  press  services  to  and 
from  Korea  with  a  view  to  recommending  means  of  improvement  if  neces- 
sary. 

This  does  not  in  any  way  change  or  modify  the  resolution 
proposed  by  Mr.  Wong,  but  simply  widens  its  scope  so  that  the 
investigation  be  extended  to  Korea. 

Korea  is  a  nation  of  splendid  history  and  achievements.  By 
coming  into  closer  contact  with  her,  the  rest  of  the  nations  of 
the  world  will  be  benefited  in  learning  the  ancient  culture  and 
civilization  of  that  nation.  In  so  far  as  Korea  is  concerned,  she 
is  anxious  to  play  her  role  in  the  family  of  nations  in  the  way 
of  cultural  exchange  and  friendly  co-operation.  Her  aspirations 
in  this  regard  should  have  the  support  of  the  other  nations  sur- 
rounding the  Pacific. 

Japan  should  have  no  objection  to  having  a  commission  of 
journalists  investigate  the  conditions  in  Korea.  On  the  con- 
trary she  should  welcome  it  as  it  would  afford  her  a  chance  to 
air  possible  misunderstanding  that  might  exist  between  Korea  and 
Japan. 

For  all  these  reasons  I  solicit  your  support  in  the  amendment 
I  have  proposed. 

MR.  ZUMOTO:  Mr.  President,  I  second  Mr.  Chung's 
amendment  and  in  so  doing  I  ask  your  permission  to  say  a  few 
words.  I  am  in  hearty  sympathy  with  the  desire  which  Mr. 
Chung  has  so  clearly  expressed,  that  conditions  in  Korea  be 
made  known  to  the  world  more  accurately  and  more  widely  than 
is  the  case  now.  I  have  the  greatest  sympathy  with  the  Korean 
people  among  whom  I  count  not  a  few  dear  friends,  and  any- 
thing that  may  conduce  to  the  betterment  of  their  conditions 
commands  my  hearty  support. 

As  for  Japan,  she  has  nothing  to  conceal  from  the  world  con- 
cerning her  policy  and  action  in  the  peninsula,  and  there  is  no 
doubt  that  her  best  interests  will  be  served  by  having  everything 
made  known  to  the  outside  public,  no  matter  whether  the  facts 
revealed  may  be  favorable  or  unfavorable  to  her.  Mr.  Chung's 
proposal,  therefore,  has  my  whole-hearted  endorsement. 


366      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  Mr.  Wong,  will  you  accept  Mr.  Chung's 
amendment  ? 

MR.  WONG:  Yes. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  Mr.  Wong  accepts  the  amendment  and 
includes  the  amendment  in  his  original  resolution.  All  in  favor 
of  the  resolution  as  amended  will  make  it  known  by  saying 
Aye,  contrary  No.  The  resolution  as  amended  is  carried  unani- 
mously. 

The  next  resolution  will  be  reported  by  the  Secretary,  whose 
resolution  it  is. 

THE  SECRETARY :  My  resolution  is  as  follows : 
Whereas,  it  is  desirable,  in  order  to  facilitate  travel,   particularly  the 
free   passage   from  country  to   country   of    journalists   whose   efforts    may 
promote  mutual  international  enlightenment  and  understanding,  be  it 

Resolved:  That  the  members  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  pledge 
themselves  to  urge  upon  their  respective  governments  the  necessity  for  the 
removal,  as  far  as  possible,  of  all  vexatious  restrictions  upon  the  issue  of 
passports,  and  that  the  imposition  of  any  additional  charges  for  such  pass- 
ports, other  than  that  made  in  the  country  of  their  issue,  be  discontinued. 

MR.  GLASS:  I  second  that  resolution. 

(The  resolution  was  carried  unanimously.) 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  Resolution  number  nine  will  be  held 
over  until  the  afternoon  session.  The  Secretary  will  next  re- 
port the  tenth  resolution,  proposed  by  Mr.  Nieva  of  the  Philip- 
pine Islands. 

THE  SECRETARY:  The  resolution  reads: 
Whereas,  it  is  the  earnest  desire  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World 
to  co-operate  with  duly  organized  governments  in  the  establishment  of  per- 
manent peace  for  mankind. 

Be  it  Resolved :  That  it  is  the  hope  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World 
that  all  governments  of  the  world  will  give  the  Press  of  the  world  all  such 
means  of  access  to  avenues  of  information  as  should  enable  the  Press  every- 
where to  inform  the  world  correctly  and  unreservedly  on  public  matters. 

Be  it  Also  Resolved:  That  the  Delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World  pledge  themselves   to  give   the   widest  publicity   to   this   resolution. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  In  the  absence  of  Mr.  Nieva  will  some 
one  in  sympathy  with  that  resolution  move  its  adoption,  if  not 
it  will  be  deferred  until  the  afternoon  session. 

COLONEL  LAWSON:  On  behalf  of  Mr.  Nieva,  I  beg  to 
move  the  adoption  of  the  resolution. 

MR.  COUTOUPIS :  I  second  the  resolution. 

(The  resolution  was  unanimously  carried.) 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  367 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  next  resolution  is  apparently  pro- 
posed by  the  Chairman  of  a  committee,  there  is  no  name  on  it. 
The  Secretary  will  read  it. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

Resolved :  That  the  President  be  authorized  to  nominate  and  with  the 
approval  of  the  Executive  Committee  to  appoint  standing  committees  to 
deal  with  (a)  news  communication,  (b)  freedom  of  the  press,  (c)  inter- 
cliange  of  journalists,  (d)  journalistic  education,  (e)  ethics  of  journal- 
ism and  standards  of  practice,  (f)  promotion  of  the  welfare  of  jour- 
nalists. 

MR.  MARK  COHEN :  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolu- 
tion. 

MR.  SOUTHERN:  I  second  it. 

COLONEL  LAWSON :  A  number  of  members  of  the  Con- 
gress, with  various  cases  of  specific  grievance  in  various  parts 
of  the  world,  have  come  to  the  Chairman  of  the  Resolutions  Com- 
mittee and  have  asked  for  resolutions  to  be  passed  by  this  Con- 
gress expressing  its  approval  of  certain  action  or  advocating  some 
form  of  action.  I  want  it  understood  that  it  is  impossible  for  this 
Congress,  assembled  as  it  is  here,  to  take  any  action  on  what,  al- 
though it  may  be  correct,  is  only  an  ex  parte  statement. 

It  is  the  intention  of  the  Congress  to  appoint  these  standing 
Committees  which  will  be  empowered  to  handle  any  case  brought 
before  them.  The  Committees  will  endeavor  to  the  best  of  their 
ability  to  get  all  the  evidence  on  these  cases,  and  their  decisions 
and  anything  they  may  be  able  to  do  to  adjust  these  grievances 
will  be  published  in  the  Bulletin  about  which  Mr.  Brown  has 
spoken  to  you. 

The  only  weapon  which  this  Congress  has  is  that  of  publicity. 
It  is  perfectly  useless  for  us  to  pass  a  resolution  expressing  dis- 
approval of  the  action  of  some  state,  because  the  answer  of  that 
state  will  be  that  they  do  not  recognize  any  jurisdiction  of  this 
Congress.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  if  such  a  conclusion  is  shown 
in  its  true  light,  in  a  Bulletin  which  is  circulated  all  over  the  world, 
they  may  do  a  very  great  deal  to  insure  that  that  grievance  should 
be  put  right.  That  is  the  constructive  policy  of  this  Congress  on 
this  particular  question,  and  I  hope  it  will  be  understood  by  the 
various  members  who  brought  forward  these  cases  that  there  is 
no  lack  of  sympathy  on  the  part  of  the  Resolutions  Committee 
but  because  it  is  absolutely  impossible  for  them  to  take  any  ac- 


368      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

tion.  It  is  only  by  the  establishment  of  these  Committees  that 
anything  can  be  done,  and  therefore  in  my  opinion  this  is  the 
most  important  resolution  to  come  before  the  meeting  today. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:     Are  you  ready  for  the  motion? 

The  resolution  is  carried  unanimously. 

The  next  resolution  is  proposed  by  Mr.  Hollington  Tong  on 
interchange  of   journalists.     The   Secretary  will   read  it. 

THE  SECRETARY : 

Whereas,  each  nation  must  depend  in  large  measure  upon  its  journalists 
for  its  knowledge  of  the  other  nations  of  the  world,  and 

Whereas,  it  is  in  the  interests  of  world  peace  and  understanding  that 
journalists  should  be  most  thoroughly  informed  as  regards  the  people  and 
customs  and  thought  of  countries  other  than  their  own, 

Be  it  Resolved,  That  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  urges  wider 
practice  of  the  policy  of  interchange  of  journalists  between  nations  and 
proposes  to  its  Executive  Committee  that  definite  steps  be  taken  to  increase 
tlie  practice  between  the  countries  represented  in  the  Congress. 

MR.  TONG:  As  it  is  unnecessary  to  dwell  on  the  importance 
of  the  necessity  to  interchange  newspaper  men  between  the  na- 
tions, and  as  Colonel  Lawson  and  other  speakers  have  dwelt  upon 
this  matter  at  great  length,  I  will  not  speak  about  it  any  more 
and  have  pleasure  in  merely  moving  the  adoption  of  the  resolu- 
tion. 

(The  motion  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Davies  of  Australia,  and 
carried  unanimously.) 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  The  Secretary  will  report  the  next  reso- 
lution on  international  obligations,  proposed  by  Mr.  Zumoto,  of 
Japan. 

THE  SECRETARY :  Mr.  Zumoto's  resolution  reads  as  fol- 
lows: 

Whereas,  it  is  believed  that  the  difficulties  which  arise  between  the 
nations  of  the  world  are  due  largely  to  lack  of  full  understanding  between 
the  several  governments  and  peoples,  and 

Whereas,  it  is  further  believed  that  to  dissemiioate  among  the  peoples 
of  the  earth  more  complete  knowledge  of  countries  and  races  other  tlian 
their  own  would  be  one  of  the  surest  guarantees  of  international  amity, 

Be  It  Resolved,  That  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  in  this  man- 
ner recognizes  tlie  solemn  obligations  which  rest  upon  journalists  every- 
where to  spare  no  effort  to  promote  a  spirit  of  world  fellowship  among 
the  peoples  of  all  nations. 

MR.  ZUMOTO :  I  do  not  think  this  resolution  requires  any 
amplification  from  me.     It  expresses  very  clearly  what  is  pro- 


\V.  J).  IIOKXADAY,  Austin.  Tkxas  (u|)i)."r,  left);  MR.  am)  MRS.  V.  8. 
McCLATCHV.  Sacramento,  Califounia  (iipiier,  center);  HERBERT 
L.  BRIDGMAX,  Brooklyn,  New  York   (ui)per,  right). 

]\1RS.  JOHN  TRENHOLM  WARREN,  Honolulu  (center,  left);  FRANK 
r.  GLASS,  SR.,  Birmingham,  Alabama   (center,  right). 

JOHN  R.  MORRIS,  Executive  Secretary  of  the  Congress.  Tokyo  (lower, 
left);  MR.  and  MRS.  H.  V.  BAILEY,  Illinois  (lower,  center);  L. 
W.  UE  VIS-NORTON.  Secretary,  Hawaiian  Islands  Executive  Com- 
mittee  (lower,  right). 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  369 

posed,  so  I  will  simply  ask  your  hearty  apprcval  of  this  resolu- 
tion. 

MR.  TONG:     I  heartily  second  the  motion. 

MR.  DAVIKS:  T  would  like  to  make  a  few  remarks.  We 
all  realize  that  a  more  complete  knowledge  of  countries  and  races 
other  than  our  own  will  help  to  remove  a  great  many  misunder- 
standings, but  I  think  to  a  certain  extent  the  newspapers  them- 
selves are  to  blame.  The  cable  news  going  from  Australia  to 
England  for  the  last  year  for  instance,  has  led  to  a  wonderful 
misconception  of  the  place.  There  is  an  impression  in  Great 
Britain  now  that  Australia  is  a  land  of  drought  and  where  strikes 
are  constantly  in  evidence.  As  one  newspaper  said :  "Australia  is 
a  land  where  industrial  peace  occasionally  breaks  out."  That  is 
all  wrong.  It  has  a  drought  now  and  again  but  there  are  por- 
tions of  Australia  where  the  rainfall  is  continual  throughout  the 
year.  It  is  only  in  certain  sections  of  the  country  where  we  ever 
have  drought.  In  other  matters  too,  the  sending  of  sensational 
news  only  and  the  printing  of  sensational  news  only  of  remote 
countries  helps  to  create  a  misconception  and  if  it  were  possible 
that  the  press  of  the  world  could  endeavor  not  only  to  print 
sensational  news  from  remote  countries,  but  also  to  give  some 
indication  of  ordinary  life  there,  it  would  do  a  great  deal  of  good. 
I  think  the  proposal  for  an  interchange  of  journalists  as  outlined 
in  the  previous  motion  would  help  out  a  lot.  Therefore,  if  this 
system  of  interchange  of  journalists  can  be  brought  about  it 
will  be  a  good  thing. 

I  most  heartily  support  this  motion  and  I  hope  the  press  of 
other  countries,  when  sensational  items  do  come  from  Australia, 
will  realize  that  that  is  not  the  general  run  of  things  there. 

(The  motion  was  put  to  the  meeting  and  carried  unanimously.) 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  Secretary  will  report  the  last  of 
the  resolutions  to  be  presented  at  this  time ;  not  all  the  resolu- 
tions but  the  last  to  be  presented  at  this  time,  a  resolution  re- 
garding the  freedom  of  the  press  presented  by  Mr.  Coutoupis  of 
Greece.    The  Secretary  will  read  the  resolution. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

Whereas  :   Fairminded  men  everywhere   realize  the  benefits   to  be  de- 
rived from  a  free  and  unhampered  press  and  know^  that  a  press  subject  to 
the  control  of  any  outside  power  or  influence  can  never  be  an  agent  of  true 
public  service; 
24 


370      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Be  It  Resolved,  That  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  condemns  every 
power  or  influence  which  would  seek  to  control  the  utterances  or  color 
the  news  reports  of  the  press  of  any  land  and  the  delegates  in  the  Press 
Congress  here  assembled  pledge  themselves  to  the  principle  of  absolute 
freedom  of  expression  for  the  press  of  the  world. 

MR.  COUTOUPIS:  In  moving  this  resolution  I  may  be 
considered  as  proposing  something  superfluous,  as  nowadays  no 
one  either  in  this  room  or  outside  of  it  is  Hkely  to  be  against  the 
freedom  of  the  press.  The  real  question  about  the  matter  is,  how 
far  must  this  freedom  go?  I  am  aware  there  are  circumstances 
where  freedom  of  the  press  must  have  some  limit  but  I  would 
like  to  say  that  a  Press  Congress  should  always  regard  the  prin- 
ciples of  the  freedom  of  the  press  as  its  basis. 

During  the  war  in  France,  a  country  which  stands  to  the 
front  for  freedom  of  opinion  and  thought,  there  were  complaints 
that  the  censors  abused  this  privilege  by  limiting  very  much  the 
freedom  of  the  press.  Clemenceau,  the  great  French  statesman 
and  journalist,  very  often  complained  about  this.  I  therefore  sug- 
gest that  the  Press  Congress  pass  this  resolution  in  order  to  re- 
mind all  governments  that  even  in  exceptional  circumstances,  as  in 
time  of  war,  this  freedom  must  be  respected.  I  move  the  adoption 
of  this  resolution. 

(The  motion  was  seconded  by  Mr.  Brown  of  New  York,  sup- 
ported by  Mr.  Chung  of  Korea,  and  carried  unanimously.) 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  This  completes  the  list  of  resolutions 
for  this  morning's  session.  The  Congress  will  recess  until  two 
o'clock. 


NINTH   SE;sSION. 

THURSDAY  AFTERNOON,  OCTOBER  20,  1921. 

Congress  was  called  to  order  at  two  o'clock  by  President 
Williams. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Committee  on  Resolutions  have  a 
further  report  to  make. 

COLONEL  LAWSON :  Further  resolutions  were  submitted 
this  morning  which  have  been  approved  by  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  and  have  been  handed  to  the  Secretary  of  the  Con- 
gress. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  Secretary  will  read  these  resolu- 
tions. 


Proceedings  of  the  Cong?' ess  371 

If  you  will  allow  me  before  that,  however,  I  will  ask  the 
Secretary  to  read  a  communication  from  Mr.  Beteta  regarding 
some  matters  which  will,  after  having  been  read  for  information, 
be  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee  for  such  action  as  may 
seem  desirable. 

THE  SECRETARY :     Mr.  Beteta  announces : 

The  two  Vice-presidents  of  the  Congress  for  Spain  have  sent  to  the 
Press  Congress  papers  containing  an  outline  of  the  Spanish  Press  History 
and  the  Spanish  Press  Legislation. 

Representing  the  Spanish  Press  Association  I  have  the  honor  of  pro- 
posing that  the  Spanish  language,  which  spoken  by  more  than  eighty  mil- 
lions of  persons  and  on  which  such  a  great  deal  of  human  culture  has 
been  constructed  would  be  declared  as  one  of  the  official  languages  of 
the  Congress. 

On  behalf  of  the  same  institution  I  have  the  honor  to  express  that  should 
the  Congress  decide  to  hold  its  next  meeting  at  Seville,  the  Association 
would  be  glad  to  support  and  co-operate  as  far  as  necessary  to  the  end  of 
making  such  a  meeting  of  great  success  worthy  of  the  important  mission 
of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World. 


Dr.  Roberto  Brenes  Mesen,  a  veteran  of  the  journalism  of  the  Republic 
of  Costa  Rica,  Central  America,  and  former  Secretary  of  Education  there 
and  Minister  of  Costa  Rica  to  Washington,  proposes  to  create  the  Con- 
tinental American  Press  Sub-Congress,  as  a  part  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World,  with  two  independent  sections,  because  of  the  diflFerence  of 
language — but  in  close  spiritual  relation.  The  function  of  this  Sub-Con- 
gress should  be  to  determine  those  important  questions  upon  which  the 
international  consciousness  of  the  Continent  needs  must  be  formed  and 
educated  in  order  that  each  of  its  composing  nations  becomes  aware  of 
the  share  incumbent  upon  the  American  Continent  in  the  preservation  of 
the  peace  and  welfare  of  the  world. 

The  Spanish  American  Section  of  this  Sub-Congress  should  take  in 
charge,  besides,  this  most  important  function :  to  emphasize  the  spiritual 
unity  of  all  peoples  speaking  one  and  the  same  Peninsular  language,  creat- 
ing in  a  solid  and  definite  way  the  sentiment  and  the  conviction  that  in  the 
realm  of  art  and  science  and  all  the  spiritual  forms  of  civilization  all  those 
nations  are,  separately,  mere  provinces  of  a  vast  ensemble  which  we  must 
take  in  sight  when  the  artistic  work  is  created,  or  the  scientific  research  is 
brought  about,  or  the  philosophic  doctrine  is  expounded. 

Dr.  Brenes  Mesen  outlined  his  complete  plan  for  this  Sub-Congress. 


Mr.  Ernesto  Montenegro,  General  Representative  of  the  Chilean  daily 
El  Mercuric,  the  oldest  paper  in  Latin  America,  proposes  to  the  Congress 
a  plan  for  the  creation  of  a  Monthly  Magazine  devoted  to  the  Youths  of 
the  three  Americas,  in  order  to  complete  their  education  and  to  create  in 
their  spirit  high  ideals  of  human  solidarity,  peace  and  friendship. 


372      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Mr.  Jose  Elias  Levis,  President  of  the  Press  Association  of  Porto 
Rico,  proposes  a  plan  for  the  diffusion  of  the  Schools  of  Journalism  through- 
out Latin  America  and  for  the  bettering  of  the  actual  conditions  of  the 
members  of  the  staff  and  other  inferior  employees  of  the  journalistic  enter- 
prises. 


THE  CHAIRMAN:  Unless  there  is  some  objection,  this 
communication  will  be  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee  for 
such  action  as  to  it  may  seem  desirable  and  possible  and  neces- 
sary. 

The  Chair  presents  to  you  Mr.  Frank  P.  Glass  as  your  pre- 
siding officer  for  the  rest  of  the  session. 

MR.  GLASS :  The  next  order  of  business  is  the  continuance 
of  the  presentation  of  the  various  resolutions  by  the  Secretary. 

THE  SECRETARY:  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  these  resolu- 
tions by  Mr.  Riley  Allen,  in  his  absence  will  be  introduced  by 
Mr.  Herrick  and  Mr.  McClatchy. 

Whereas,  the  Associated  Press  has  given  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World  its  fullest  co-operation  and  sympathetic  help  at  all  times,  both  in 
advance  arrangements  for  this  convention  at  Honolulu,  and  in  carrying  all 
over  the  world  the  news  of  the  convention's  deliberations,  and 

Whereas,  the  Associated  Press  has  especially  manifested  this  spirit  of 
interest  and  co-operation  by  furnishing  free  of  charge  through  the  Honolulu 
Associated  Press  newspapers  an  augmented  news  service ; 
Therefore  be  it  Resolved, 

First,  that  this  Congress  votes  its  thanks  and  gratitude  to  the  Asso- 
ciated Press  and  its  representative  in  Honolulu,  Mr.  John  Snell,  who  has 
taken  great  personal  interest  in  promoting  the  success  of  the  Congress. 

Secondly,  that  we  view  the  interest  of  the  Associated  Press  in  this  Con- 
gress as  an  encouragement  to  the  cause  of  good  journalism,  whose  founda- 
tion is  the  dissemination  of  correct  and  authoritative  news. 

Thirdly,  that  copies  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to  the  board  of  directors 
and  the  general  manager  of  the  Associated  Press  and  to  its  Honolulu  rep- 
resentative. 

MR.  HERRICK :  I  move  the  adoption  of  the  resolution. 
MR.  HOLLINGTON  TONG :  I  second  the  motion. 
(The  resolution  was  carried  unanimously.) 
THE  SECRETARY:  The  next  resolution  is  also   by   Mr. 
Riley  Allen  and  will  be  introduced  by  Mr.  McClatchy. 

Resolved,  that  the  thanks  of  this  Congress  be  extended  to  the  United 
Press,  whose  interest  in  the  Congress  has  been  evidenced  by  its  arrange- 
ment to  send  by  wireless  a  special  news  report  from  time  to  time  during 
the  sessions  of  the  Congress. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  373 

MR.  McCLATCH Y :  I  have  pleasure  in  urging  the  adoption 
of  that  resolution. 

MR.  BROWN :  I  have  pleasure  in  seconding  the  motion. 

(The  resolution  was  unanimously  carried.) 

THE  SECRETARY:  Another  resolution,  in  the  name  of 
Mr.  Riley  Allen,  reads: 

Whereas,  the  Communication  Division  of  the  United  States  Department 
of  the  Navy  has  made  possible,  during  the  sessions  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World,  a  largely  expanded  daily  news  report,  carried  free  by  United 
States  Navy  Radio,  and  has  spared  no  effort  to  provide  for  the  delegates 
here  assembled  a  most  thorough  and  representative  news  report, 

Be  it  Resolved,  by  the  delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World, 
First,  that  we  heartily  appreciate  the  attitude  of    the   Communications 
Division  of  the  Department  of  the  Navy  of  the  United  States; 

Secondly,  that  we  express  special  appreciation  for  the  high  degree  of 
technical  success  which  has  characterized  the  efforts  of  the  U.  S.  Navy  Radio 
officers  and  staff  operators  in  bringing  the  several  daily  and  nightly  news  re- 
ports by  navy  radio  to  Honolulu; 

Thirdly,  that  copies  of  these  resolutions  be  sent  to  the  officer  command- 
ing the  communication  division,  United  States  Navy  Department,  to  the 
district  communications  officer  at  San  Francisco;  and  to  the  district  com- 
munications officer  at  Honolulu,  Lieut.  C.  N.  Ingraham  for  himself  and 
staft. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  I  have  been  in  intimate  touch  for  one 
and  a  half  years  about  with  the  Navy  Department  and  know  per- 
haps as  intimately  as  anyone  the  credit  that  is  due,  and  I  have 
great  pleasure  in  moving  the  adoption  of  the  resolution. 

MR.  HERRICK:  I  second  the  resolution. 

(The  resolution  was  carried  by  acclamation.) 

THE  SECRETARY:  I  have  a  resolution  here  standing  in 
the  name  of  Mr.  Beteta,  to  which  I  am  sure  you  will  give  your 
most  hearty  support. 

Be  it  Resolved,  that  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  assembled  at 
Honolulu  wishes  to  express  to  Dr.  Walter  Williams,  tlie  President  of  the 
Congress,  its  deep  appreciation  of  his  tireless  efforts  in  behalf  of  this  or- 
ganization of  the  world's  journalists.  The  delegates  to  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World  recognize  that  the  maintenance  of  the  Congress  since  the 
meeting  in  San  Francisco  in  1915  and  the  signal  success  of  the  present  ses- 
sion is  due,  more  than  to  any  other  factor,  to  President  Williams'  wisdom, 
his  lofty  integrity,  and  his  devotion  to  the  duties  which  his  high  office  in- 
volves. 

MR.  SOUTHERN:  I  have  the  honor  to  second  the  resolu- 
tion which  is  offered  by  Mr.  Beteta. 


374       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

I  am  sure  that  every  member  of  this  Congress  will  agree 
with  me  when  I  indorse  the  ability  and  the  justice  and  the  im- 
partiality and  the  humor  with  which  our  presiding  officer  has 
conducted  these  meetings,  (applause).  He  has  been  the  means 
of  bringing  among  us  such  a  fine  spirit  of  co-operation  and  good 
feeling,  that  our  meetings  have  been  brought  to  a  larger  success 
through  the  courtesy  of  Dr.  Williams.  It  has  been  said  that  a 
prophet  is  without  honor  in  his  own  country.  It  gives  me 
pleasure  to  say  that  we  in  Missouri  have  proved  that  saying  does 
not  fit  on  this  occasion.  I,  therefore,  coming  from  Missouri, 
speak,  I  think,  the  feeling  of  every  member  present  when  I 
heartily  ask  the  adoption  of  the  resolution  offered. 

MR.  ZUMOTO :  Permit  me  to  suggest  a  word  on  this  reso- 
lution. 

I  think  it  is  fitting  to  have  an  expression  of  the  high  obliga- 
tion and  appreciation  that  we  men  in  the  Far  East  hold  for  Dr. 
Williams.  We  have  always  found  Dr.  Williams  a  man  of  the 
broadest  views  ;  a  man  without  petty  feeling  of  race  and  color,  and 
so  thoroughly  impartial  in  his  views  that  he  has  endeared  him- 
self to  the  Japanese  people,  the  Chinese  and  the  Koreans.  The 
fine  spirit  of  interest  and  sincerity  of  his  character  has  been 
recognized  and  has  appealed  to  the  imagination  of  the  Oriental 
people,  and  we  have  had  quite  a  number  of  specimens  of  jour- 
nalists that  he  is  turning  out  at  his  School  of  Journalism,  and  of 
these  men  some  are  working  in  Tokyo,  some  in  Shanghai  and  at 
other  places  in  the  East,  and  judging  from  the  fruits  we  all  know 
that  he  is  conducting  one  of  the  best  schools  of  journalism  in 
the  world. 

I  am  very  happy  to  have  had  this  opportunity  of  expressing 
the  sentiments  we  feel  towards  him  before  an  audience  composed 
of  important  and  influential  journalists  from  all  parts  of  the 
world. 

JUDGE  PIERCE:  Not  as  a  substitute  and  of  course  not  as 
an  amendment,  I  desire  to  place  partly  through  the  motion  of 
the  other  and  partly  because  there  cannot  be  too  much  said  on 
the  subject  the  following: 

Resolved,  that  it  is  the  unanimous  and  grateful  sense  of  this  Assembly 
of  the  Press  from  all  over  tlic  world,  that  diligent  search  and  happy  fortune 
could  not  possibly  have  furnished  us  a  more  wise,  efficient  and  accomplished 
President;  and  Secretary  as  well. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  375 

Our  President's  vision  and  vigor  in  forecasting  this  notable 
movement ;  his  great  services  in  its  organization ;  his  dignity 
and  judicial  bearing  while  presiding  at  our  deliberations;  his 
ever  present  humor,  render  entirely  inadequate  any  measure 
of  our  express  admiration  and  thankfulness. 

Yet  we  cannot  let  this  opportunity  pass  without  recording 
our  sincere  sense  of  the  highest  appreciation  and  the  deepest 
gratitude  to  our  noble  President,  Dean  Walter  Willians,  the 
head  of  the  School  of  Journalism  of  the  University  of  Missouri, 
as  well  also  to  our  tall,  handsome  and  brainy  Secretary,  Guy 
Innes,  Associate  Editor  of  the  Herald  of  Melbourne  in  far-away 
and  always-admirable  Australia. 

I  propose  a  rising  vote  for  the  adoption  of  both  these  reso- 
lutions. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  Does  Judge  Pierce  offer  that  as  a  sub- 
stitute or  as  an  amendment? 

JUDGE  PIERCE :  As  a  resolution  to  run  concvirrently  with 
the  other. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  That  would  be  hardly  parliamentary  I 
fear,  Judge.  Also  there  is  another  resolution  with  reference  to 
the  Secretary. 

COLONEL  LAWSON:  Had  Judge  Pierce  submitted  his 
resolution  to  the  Resolutions  Committee,  we  should  have  been 
able  to  approve  it,  but  as  he  did  not  do  so  it  is  too  late  to  do  any- 
thing now,  I  fear. 

May  I  point  out  that  this  resolution  especially  before  the 
Congress  was  specially  designed  to  cover  Dr.  Walter  Williams' 
actions  as  Chairman  of  this  Congress  in  session ;  there  is  another 
resolution  on  paper  covering  what  he  has  done  as  President  of 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  and  there  is  also  another  reso- 
lution referring  to  Mr.  Guy  Innes  as  Secretary.  Therefore,  as 
Chairman  of  the  Resolutions  Committee,  I  submit  that  it  would 
be  preferable  that  the  resolution  proposed  by  Mr.  Beteta  now 
before  the  Congress  be  allowed  to  stand. 

MR.  TONG :  I  cannot  allow  such  an  important  an  occasion  to 
pass  without  saying  a  few  words  on  behalf  of  the  Chinese  delega- 
tion on  the  fair  manner  in  which  Dr.  Williams  conducted  the  meet- 
ing. I  consider  this  an  unusual  occasion.  Dr.  Williams  has 
always  been  impartial,  fair-minded,  sincere  and  earnest.     I  have 


376      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

been  well  accustomed,  as  one  of  his  students,  to  these  charac- 
teristics of  his  and  so  I  am  not  surprised  at  the  fairness,  sin- 
cerity and  impartiality  which  he  has  shown  throughout  the  whole 
of  the  proceedings  on  these  Islands  and  I  say  that  he  is  a  man 
of  international  caliber.  (Applause.) 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  Am  I  to  understand  that  Judge  Pierce 
withdraws  his  resolution? 

JUDGE  PIERCE:  Certainly. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  Then  the  resolution  is  ready  for  the 
vote.    All  in  favor  will  rise. 

The  resolution  was  carried  by  a  rising  vote. 

Here  is  another  resolution  of  a  similar  trend. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

Resolved,  that  this  Congress  desires  to  place  on  record  its  high  apprecia- 
tion of  the  ability  and  impartiality  displayed  by  Dr.  Walter  Williams  as 
Chairman,  in  the  conduct  of  the  sessions  of  the  Congress. 

This  resolution  is  also  proposed  in  the  name  of  Mr.  Beteta. 

MR.  SOUTHERN :  I  also  have  pleasure  in  seconding  this 
resolution. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  Chair  also  calls  for  a  rising  vote 
in  this  case. 

The  resolution  was  carried  unanimously. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  I  have  a  resolution  here  which  reads 
as  follows: 

Resolved,  that  this  Congress  desires  to  express  its  thanks  to  Mr.  Guy 
Innes,  for  acting  as  secretary  during  the  sessions  of  the  Congress. 

This  resolution  is  in  the  name  of  Colonel  Lawson. 

MR.  HERRICK:  I  move  its  adoption. 

MR.  TONG:  I  second  that  motion. 

(The  resolution  was  unanimously  carried.) 

MR.  GUY  INNES:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen, 
I  have  to  thank  you  very  much  and  also  Judge  Pierce,  for  the 
resolution  you  have  just  passed.  All  I  have  done  I  have  been 
only  too  happy  to  do  in  the  cause  of  that  great  crusade  of  which 
Dr.  Williams  has  been  such  a  noble  and  efficient  leader. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  next  order  of  business,  if  the  time 
has  arrived,  is  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Nominations,  un- 
less someone  has  business  to  introduce  in  the  meantime. 

JUDGE  PIERCE :  I  am  wondering  with  becoming  modesty 
and  deference  I  hope,  that  since  there  were  three  resolutions  on 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  Zll 

the  same  subject  if  the  one  I  offered  may  not,  without  any  re- 
marks, be  considered  at  the  close  of  the  regular  resolutions 
which  have  come  from  the  Committee,  and  therefore  I  make 
a  motion,  without  remark,  that  that  resolution  of  mine  be  also 
adopted  in  connection  with  the  other  three.  Too  much  praise 
cannot  be  offered  these  two  gentlemen. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  Chair  offers  the  suggestion  that 
Judge  Pierce's  motion  be  incorporated  into  the  minutes  of  the 
session.    It  will  be  so  ordered. 

MR.  PETRIE:  I  move  that  the  last  three  resolutions  passed 
by  the  Congress  be  engrossed  on  parchment  and   sent  to   the 
President  and  Secretary  respectively. 
MR.  TONG :  I  second  that  motion. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  motion  is  carried  unanimously,  and 
it  is  so  ordered. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  I  presume  that  copy  of  these  resolu- 
tions will  be  sent  out  by  the  Secretary  of  the  Congress.  I  pre- 
sume there  is  no  need  for  motion  to  that  effect. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  There  will  be  no  harm  whatever  in 
moving  to  that  effect. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  I  make  a  motion  in  accordance  with 
that  suggestion. 

MR.  HERRICK :  I  second  the  motion. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  motion  is  carried  and  it  is  so  or- 
dered. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  the  Report  of  the  Committee  on 
Nominations. 

MR.  COHEN:  Mr.  Chairman,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen:  In 
presenting  the  final  report  of  the  Committee  on  Nominations, 
I  desire  to  call  your  attention  to  the  fact  that  there  are  two 
independent  matters  discussed  in  that  report,  and  with  your  ap- 
proval I  propose  to  discuss  them  separately. 

The  first  is  a  resolution  recommending  that  Article  IV  of 
the  Constitution  be  amended  so  as  to  increase  the  number  of 
members  of  the  Executive  to  fifteen,  and  to  remove  the  require- 
ment that  Vice-Presidents  of  the  Congress  should  alone  be  mem- 
bers of  that  committee. 

The  second  part  of  the  resolution  submits  for  your  ratifica- 
tion or  otherwise,  the  names  of  the  gentlemen  who  have  been 


378      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

selected  to  fill  the  various  executive  offices  as  well  as  the  several 
Vice-Presidents. 

Taking  the  need  for  the  amendment  of  the  Constitution  first, 
we  have  found  as  the  result  of  experience  in  working  out  the 
constitution,  that  in  limiting  the  choice  of  your  Executive  to 
Vice-presidents,  a  very  limited  field  of  workers  is  presented, 
and  we  are  anxious  that  the  President  shall  have  to  his  hand  a 
committee  sufficiently  large,  not  only  to  advise  him  on  difficult 
matters  as  they  arise,  but  to  warrant  him  after  consultation  with 
them  to  express  the  mind  of  the  Congress  on  any  matter  of  urg- 
ency, and  we  venture  to  think  that  the  names  that  have  been  se- 
lected as  members  of  that  Executive  Committee  will  meet  with 
your  hearty  approval. 

It  was  indeed  a  great  pleasure  to  us  as  a  committee  to  know 
that  both  Mr.  Glass  and  Mr.  Brown,  whose  work  as  colleagues 
I  take  this  opportunity  of  acknowledging,  consented  immediately 
to  the  wish  of  the  committee,  that  they  should  be  relieved  of  the 
Vice-presidential  offices  in  order  to  become  the  trusted  advisers 
of  your  President.   (Applause). 

This  morning  I  said  all  that  I  think  is  necessary  to  commend 
the  name  of  Dr.  Walter  Williams  to  you  as  the  most  fit  and 
proper  person  to  fill  the  Presidential  chair  for  a  further  term, 
and  the  many  eulogies  that  were  passed  upon  him,  and  the 
cordial  manner  in  which  his  name  was  received  by  you,  make  it 
■unnecessary  for  me,  on  this  occasion  at  all  events,  to  add  one 
single  word  to  the  many  well  earned  tributes  that  were  paid 
this  morning  to  our  beloved  President. 

In  Mr.  James  Wright  Brown,  Dr.  Williams  will  have  a  man 
after  his  own  heart,  and  in  Mr.  Glass  a  coadjutor  of  acknowledged 
national  standing. 

It  is  quite  unnecessary  for  me  to  give  the  names  of  the  other 
gentlemen  who  are  to  constitute  your  Executive,  but  a  few  of 
them  are  deserving  of  passing  mention.  Dr.  Beteta  performed 
yeoman  service  at  San  Francisco  and  has  placed  this  Congress 
under  an  obligation  to  him  for  his  splendid  service  in  Europe 
during  the  present  year. 

The  representatives  of  Japan,  of  Greece,  of  China,  and  of 
Canada,  require  no  eulogy  at  my  hands.  Each  and  all  have 
done  their  work  splendidly  and  in  Mr.  Guy  Innes,  of  Melbourne, 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  379 

you  have  had  not  only  a  hard  working  and  zealous  secretary, 
but  a  man  whose  standing  in  his  profession  in  Australia  deserves 
recognition  in  the  way  that  you  purpose  to  utilize  his  services  in 
the  immediate  future. 

Among  the  lists  of  Vice-Presidents  it  will  be  seen  that  in 
several  of  the  coimtries  only  one  nomination  is  made,  but  the 
tmderstanding  is  that  wherever  a  single  nomination  has  been 
made,  that  individual  will  do  his  utmost  to  associate  with  him- 
self some  journalist  in  his  own  country  who  will  co-operate  with 
him  in  furthering  the  interests  of  this  Congress. 

A  number  of  invitations  were  sent  out  by  the  Executive 
to  persons  asking  them  to  act  as  Vice-Presidents,  but  the  time 
has  been  so  short  for  their  signification  of  acceptance  or  other- 
wise, that  your  committee  deemed  it  wise  to  renominate  them 
in  the  hope  that  they  would  find  no  difficulty  in  the  way  of 
acting  in  the  way  we  asked  them  to  do. 

It  gives  me  very  great  pleasure  indeed  to  move  not  only  the 
amendment  of  the  Constitution  but  to  submit  as  the  office  bearers 
for  the  ensuing  term  the  names  in  the  list  which  I  hand  to  the  Sec- 
retary to  read. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  You  have  heard  the  report  of  the  Com- 
mittee on  Nominations.  I  will  ask  the  Secretary  to  read  the 
resolution  relating  to  Article  IV. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

That  Article  IV  of  the  constitution  of  the  Press  Congress  be  amended 
so  as  to  increase  the  number  of  members  of  the  Executive  Committee  to 
fifteen,  including  the  President  and  Secretary-Treasurer  of  the  Congress, 
and  to  remove  the  requirement  that  members  of  the  Executive  Committee  be 
also  Vice-presidents  of  the  Congress. 

MR.  HERRICK :  I  second  that  motion. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  My  understanding  of  the  Constitution 
is  that  there  are  two  Vice-presidents  from  each  country  repre- 
sented in  the  Congress  and  that  the  amendment  of  Article  IV  in 
no  way  amended  that  portion  of  the  constitution.  As  I  gather 
now  the  suggestion  is  that  we  make  Vice-presidents  members  of 
the  Executive  Committee. 

MR.  COHEN:  No. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  How  many  members  are  there? 

MR.  COHEN :  Fifteen. 


380      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  Those  fifteen  must  be  chosen  from  the 
Vice-presidents  ? 

MR.  COHEN:  Not  necessarily.  Take  for  example  Great 
Britain. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  How  many  members  is  the  Executive 
Committee  supposed  to  have? 

MR.  COHEN :  Fifteen  including  the  President  and  Secretary- 
Treasurer.  There  are  more  than  forty  Vice-Presidents,  two 
from  each  country. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  We  don't  provide  in  our  resolution 
that  they  must  be  Vice-Presidents? 

MR.  COHEN :  May  I  put  it  this  way.  The  future  executive 
body  as  now  selected  will  number  fifteen  but  will  not  necessarily 
include  every  Vice-President  but  may  include  a  certain  number 
of  them.  In  the  case  of  Great  Britain  we  have  suggested  two 
names  who,  we  think  will  be  of  great  service  to  you,  and  we 
ask  you  to  put  them  on  the  Executive  Committee. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  Our  present  Constitution  does  not 
provide  that  members  of  the  Executive  Committee  shall  be 
chosen  from  the  Vice-presidents, 

MR.  COHEN :  Oh,  yes,  it  does. 

MR.  McCLATCHY :  That  is  dififerent. 

(The  amendment  was  seconded  and  carried.) 

MR.  COHEN :  The  following  is  a  list  of  nominations  to 
be  presented  to  the  Congress  with  the  recommendation  that  they 
be  elected  officers  of  the  Congress  to  hold  office  from  the  time 
of  election  until  the  next  regular  election.  I  will  ask  the  Sec- 
retary to  please  read  the  names. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

For  President:  Walter  Williams  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

For  Secretary-Treasurer :  James  Wright  Brown  of   tlie  United   States  of 

America. 
For  members  of  the  Governing  Committee : 

E.  F.  Lawson,  of  England 

K.  Sugimura,  of  Japan 

Edouard  Chapuisat,  of  Switzerland 

V.  R.  Beteta,  of  Guatemala 

Robert  Bell,  of  New  Zealand 

Ludvig  Saxe,  of  Norway 

Thales  Coutoupis,  of  Greece 

Hollington  K.  Tong,  of  China 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  381 

Oswald  Mayrand,  of  Canada 
P'.  Horace  Rose,  of  South  Africa 
Sebastiao  Sampaio,  of  South  America 
Guy  Innes,  of  Australia 
For  Vice-Presidents  the  following: 

Argentina :  Ezequiel  Paz  and  Dr.  Jorge  Mitre 

Australia:  Keith  Murdoch  and  H.  A.  Davies 

Brazil :  Jose  Carlos  Rodriguez  and  Felix  Pacheco 

Belgium :  Edouard  J.  C.  Fonteyne 

Canada :  Walter  Nichol  and  Oswald  Mayrand 

Chile :  Augustin  Edwards  and  Dr.  Carlos  Silva  Vildosola 

China :  Hin  Wong  and  Sze  Liang  Zay 

Colombia:  Enrique  Lievano  and  Ismael  E.  Arciniegas 

Costa  Rica:  Luis  Cruz  Meza  and  Guillermo  Vargas  Calvo 

Cuba :  Agustin  Lazo  and  Jose  del  Rivero 

Denmark:  Kristian  Dahl  and  J.  Borgbjerg 

Dominican  Republic :  Arturo  Pellerano  Alfau  and  Conrado  Sanchez 

Ecuador :  Leonidas  Pallares  Arteta  and  Cesar  Borja  Cordero 

France :  Philippe  Millet  and  Stephane  Lauzanne 

Great  Britain :  Sir  Campbell  Stuart  and  Sir  William  Davies 

Greece :  Thales  Coutoupis 

Guatemala :  V.  R.  Beteta 

Holland :  D.  Hans  and  Dr.  G.  G.  van  der  Hoeven 

Honduras :  Troylan  Turcios  and  Paulina  Valladares 

Hongkong :  T.  Petrie 

India:  Sir  S.  Banerjee  and  R.  N.  Vatchaghandy 

Ireland:  J.  F.  Charlessen  and  W.  T.  Brewster 

Italy:  M.  Borsa  and  Olinda  Malagod 

Japan :  K.   Sugimura  and  M.  Zumoto 

Korea :  Henry  Chung  and  Dong  Sung  Kim 

Mexico :  Rafael  Alducin  and  Felix  E.  Palavicini 

New  Zealand :  Robert  Bell  and  Cecil  W.  Leys 

Nicaragua :  Daniel  Maldonado  and  Juan  Ramon  Aviles 

Norway :  Ludvig  Saxe 

Panama:  Guillermo  Andreve  and  Guillermo  Colunje 

Paraguay :  Dr.  Enrique  Bordenave  and  Dr.  Carlos  Luis  Isasi 

Peru :  Oscar  Miro  Quezada  and  Luis  Fernan  Cisneros 

Philippine  Islands :  Gregorio  Nieva  and  Conrado  Benitez 

Porto  Rico :  Manuel  Fernandez  and  Jose  Elias  Levis 

Portugal:  Alfreda  de  Mesquita  and  Dr.  Julio  Dantas 

Salvador :   Ramon  Mayorga  Rivas  and  Francisco  Gavidian 

South  Africa :  F.  Horace  Rose 

Spain :  Rufino  Blanco  and  E.  Gomez  Baquero 

Switzerland :  H.  Schoop  and  Edouard  Chapuisat 

Turkey :  Mihran  Nacachian  and  Vertanes  Mardigian 

United  States :  FVank  P.  Glass  and  Gardiner  Kline 


382       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Uruguay :  Jose  Batle  Ordonez  and  Dr.  Juan  Andres  Ramirez 

Venezuela :  Laureano  Vallenille  Lanz  and  Andre  Mata 

MR.  COHEN :  You  will  notice  in  one  or  two  places  a  single 
name  has  been  put  forward  and  the  understanding  is,  that  the 
person  so  named  shall  put  forward  the  name  of  someone  in  his 
country  for  the  other  vice-presidency ;  and  that  those  who  have 
not  had  time  to  send  confirmative  replies  or  in  the  negative  will 
be  regarded  as  accepting. 

With  these  two  exceptions  I  beg  to  move  the  adoption  of  the 
report  in  its  entirety. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  It  is  moved  and  seconded  that  the 
Secretary  of  this  Congress  be  authorized  to  cast  a  vote  of  the 
entire  body  for  this  list  of  nominations  for  the  various  offices. 

THE  SECRETARY :  Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen :  I  wish 
to  announce  that  I  have  cast  the  ballot,  and  the  result  is  as  I 
have  just  read  here. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  motion  to  adopt  is  carried  by  ac- 
clamation. 

I  have  here  one  more  resolution,  proposed  by  Mr.  Glass, 
which  I  will  ask  the  Secretary  to  read. 

THE  SECRETARY: 

Whereas,  The  President  of  the  United  States  has  called  a  Conference 
of  representatives  of  the  principal  nations  of  the  world  to  assemble  in  the 
city  of  Washington  on  November  11th,  and 

Whereas,  the  purpose  of  this  Conference  is  to  consider  the  best  ways 
and  means  of  reducing  armaments  and  of  laying  foundations  for  a  general 
and  permanent  peace  throughout  the  world,  so  that  all  peoples  may  be  re- 
lieved of  oppressive  taxation  and  may  have  the  opportunity  to  develop  their 
highest  qualities  of  blood  and  spirit, 

Nozv,  Therefore  be  it  Resolved  by  this  body  of  forward-looking  jour- 
nalists that  we  commend  heartily  this  great  vision  of  world  harmony ;  that 
we  express  the  deepest  sympathy  with  the  purposes  of  the  Conference ;  that 
we  entertain  the  most  earnest  hope  that  wise  and  practicable  policies  may  be 
matured  by  that  great  body  of  strong  men;  that  we  have  an  abiding  faith 
that  the  time  is  ripe  for  a  substantial  step  forward  in  securing  the  world's 
welfare,  and 

Be  it  Further  Resolved:  That,  as  a  league  of  journalists,  conscious  of  a 
world  outlook  at  this  strategic  point  in  the  great  Pacific,  we  pledge  our- 
selves to  sustain  and  support  the  work  of  the  Disarmament  Conference  in 
every  deserved  and  practicable  way,  to  the  end  that  public  opinion  in  all 
countries  may  ensure  success  for  all  decisions  and  undertakings  that  look 
to  the  attainment  of  world  peace. 

MR.  GLASS :  I  move  the  adoption  of  that  resohttion. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  383 

COLONEL  LAWSON:  I  have  pleasure  in  seconding  the 
motion, 

(The  resolution  was  unanimously  carried.) 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  I  now  desire  to  appoint  a  Committee  to 
notify  Dr.  Williams  of  his  re-election  to  this  important  position, 
and  to  ask  him  into  the  room — to  bring  him  into  the  room — 
and  let  him  make  such  remarks  as  he  may  see  fit  to  make.  I 
appoint  Colonel  Lawson,  Mr.  Brown,  and  Mr.  Tong  as  a  com- 
mittee. You  will  please  proceed  to  find  Dr.  Williams  and  bring 
him  here  forthwith. 

(The  committee  appointed  found  Dr.  Williams  and  led  him 
into  the  hall,  to  the  singing  of  "He's  a  Jolly  Good  Fellow.") 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  Gentlemen,  I  have  very  great  pleasure 
in  presenting  to  this  body  its  new  President,  but  never  its  old 
one.  Dr.  Williams. 

MR.  WILLIAMS :  I  deeply  appreciate,  friends  of  mine,  the 
high  honor  that  you  have  paid  me.  I  fear  that  I  cannot  trust 
myself  to  put  into  words  that  which  my  heart  would  suggest  of 
gratitude  and  appreciation.  You  have  given  me  far  more  honor 
than  I  merit  and  entrusted  me  with  a  position  which  I  very  much 
fear  I  will  not  be  able  to  fill  as  acceptably  as  I  would  hope  to  fill 
it  for  your  sake  and  mine. 

The  success  of  these  Congress  sessions  and  of  the  prepara- 
tions therefor  has  been  due  to  the  helpfulness  of  journalists 
everywhere  and  in  particular  the  success  of  this  meeting  has 
been  due  to  the  men  and  women  of  Hawaii  who  have  given  us 
such  a  cordial  reception,  and  to  your  tolerance  and  patience  and 
sympathy  with  the  presiding  officer.  He  could  not  help  but  do 
fairly  well  however  feeble  his  efforts  might  be,  when  he  had 
you  to  preside  over,  mild  mannered,  kindly  disposed  and  eager 
to  help  as  you  have  always  been. 

We  have  had  a  great  session.  The  tone  and  spirit  of  the 
papers  that  have  been  read  and  the  addresses  that  have  been 
delivered,  and  in  particular  the  fine  fraternal  relationship  es- 
tablished between  journalists  of  various  lands  have,  I  believe, 
made  this  a  most  notable  assembly  of  the  world's  press.  We 
have  builded  well  a  foundation  unto  the  future  good  of  jour- 
nalism and  through  journalism  to  the  good  of  mankind. 

The  resolutions  that  you  passed  this  morning  offered  the 
framework  and  the  foundation  for  an  edifice  out  of  which  may 


384      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

come  much  of  good  to  journalism  and  humanity,  but  the  build- 
ing of  that  edifice  depends  not  upon  me,  to  whom  you  have  en- 
trusted in  your  mistaken  kindness  of  heart  the  Presidency  for 
another  term,  but  the  building  of  that  edifice  rests  upon  you,  and 
you,  and  you  (indicating)  in  every  country  represented  here  and 
in  those  countries  which  should  be  represented  in  like  Congresses. 
We  can  only  succeed  when  we  are  united,  earnest  and  active,  in 
the  support  of  this  great  movement. 

Journalism  may  be  seen  in  various  manifestations  through- 
out the  world,  just  as  we  see  in  tropical  countries  where  there 
are  no  seasons,  fields  that  show  the  seeding  side  by  side  with 
fields  that  show  the  harvesting,  and  fields  where  planting  is 
being  done  side  by  side  with  fields  where  the  fruit  is  being 
gathered.  So  as  we  survey  the  world's  journalism,  we  may  see 
in  some  places  the  beginnings  of  journalism ;  in  other  places,  it 
coming  to  a  finer  fruitage,  and  yet  others  where  the  harvesting  is 
more  nearly  to  be  attained.  But  one  may  not  say  to  the  other 
that  journalism  is  not  being  well  done  there.  We  may,  I  think, 
say  with  sympathy  and  hope  to  the  journalism  of  any  land  that 
those  of  other  lands  where  journalism  has  progressed  farther  to 
freedom  and  a  longer  distance  toward  better  conditions,  that 
we  should  all  stand  together,  bound  up  in  the  bundle  of  the 
world's  life,  and,  that,  I  think  is  one  of  the  purposes  of  the  Press 
Congress. 

At  one  time,  in  the  master  city  of  the  world,  there  stood  a 
great  and  golden  vase.     It  stood  in  the  very  center  of  the  city 
and  each  evening  as  the  sun  went  down,  the  toilers  in  that  city 
came  by  that  great  and  golden  vase  and  placed  within   it  the 
offerings  of  the  people,  and  the  next  morning  when  the   day 
dawned  and  the  sun's  first  roseate  streaks  ran  along  the  sky, 
the  high  priest  of  the  city  came  unto  that  great  and  golden  vase 
and  took  from  out  it  the  offerings  of  the  people,  reading  aloud 
the  legend  writ  upon  the  vase,  and  this  is  what  he  read: 
'From   each  according  to   his   ability 
Unto  each  according  to  his  need.' 
And  each  day  the  high  priest  took  the  offerings  of  the  people  and 
distributed  them  to  the  city's  life  and  beauty  and  to  the  com- 
mon good.     The  blessing  of  the  gods  was  on  the  city,  from  the 
temple  altar  e'en  down  to  the  great  and  gloomy  walls  and  yet  be- 


o 


i 


Proceedings  of  the  Co7igress  385 

yond  to  the  fair  and  fertile  fields  on  which  that  city  stood,  as  all 
cities  stand,  on  the  fair  and  fertile  fields  beyond  the  city  gates. 
And  the  blessings  came  and  never  went  until  one  day  the  custom 
failed.  Each  man  toiled  as  hard  as  yesterday  but  all  that  he  had  he 
kept  for  his  own  selfish  use,  and  shrivelled  in  his  heart  as  he  kept 
it  for  himself,  and  today,  this  glorious  October  day,  if  you  would 
go  to  that  one-time  master  city  of  the  world  you  would  find  that 
bats  rear  their  noisome  brood  within  the  market  place ;  the 
great  and  gloomy  walls  are  there  no  more;  the  temple  altar  has 
fallen  into  ruin  and  there  is  not  a  soul  left  to  do  the  city  reverence 

This  is  a  symbol  as  I  understand  it,  of  the  high  mission  of 
journalism,  a  profession  which  seeks  to  take  from  every  man 
his  thought  and  opinion  and  aid,  according  to  his  ability,  and 
distribute  it  throughout  the  world  unto  every  man  according  to 
his  need.  And  in  this  community  and  everywhere  where  that 
lesson  and  legend  is  forgotten,  then,  as  the  civilization  of  yes- 
terday reached  its  summit  and  went  down  again  in  ruins,  what 
we  call  our  civilization  of  today  comes  to  the  summit  and  goes 
down  again. 

And  that,  it  seems  to  me,  friends  of  mine,  sums  up  the  pur- 
pose of  a  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  representing  the  pro- 
fession of  journalism  throughout  the  world.  Considering  all 
the  responsibility  that  you  have  again  placed  in  my  hands  I  am 
grateful  personally  to  each  one  of  you  for  your  kindly  considera- 
tion at  this  session ;  and,  hoping  to  do  such  service  in  the  future 
as  may  be  within  my  power  in  your  behalf  and  in  behalf  of  the 
cause  which  to  all  of  us  is  dear,  the  profession  of  journalism,  I 
am  happy  to  accept  again  the  honor  that  you  have  conferred  upon 
me.  (Loud  and  prolonged  applause.) 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  ninth  resolution  was  laid  over  from 
this  morning  until  this  afternoon  for  presentation.  Is  the  Chair- 
man of  the  Resolutions  Committee  ready  to  present  it  at  this 
time? 

COLONEL  LAWSON:  Since  that  resolution  was  prepared 
I  understand  there  probably  will  be  a  further  meeting  of  the 
Congress  and,  if  it  is  your  wish,  I  suggest  that  the  resolution  be 
presented  at  the  final  meeting  of  the  Congress. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  That  is  my  understanding,  that  there 
will  be  a  brief  meeting  at  some  hour  to  be  designated  by  the  Ex- 
25 


386      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

ecutive  Committee  or  the  President,  probably  the  morning  of 
the  first  of  November,  at  which  final  resolutions  will  be  adopted, 
the  meeting  being  for  no  other  purpose  than  that.  If  there  is  no 
objection  this  resolution  will  be  held  over  for  consideration  at 
that  time. 

Does  any  delegate  wish  to  bring  up  the  matter  of  the  next 
meeting  place?  If  not,  under  the  Constitution  it  goes  to  the 
Executive  Committee. 

MR.  HODGES :  I  move  that  no  preferential  vote  be  taken 
but  that  the  matter  be  left  entirely  to  the  Executive  Committee. 

MR.  HERRICK:  I  second  that  motion. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  The  motion  is  carried  unanimously. 

MR.  BROWN :  I  should  very  greatly  appreciate  the  oppor- 
tunity at  this  time  of  expressing  my  personal  thanks  to  the  Con- 
gress for  the  high  honor  they  have  conferred  upon  me.  I  feel 
very  deeply  that  honor.  I  may  say  that  while  there  has  been 
that  spirit  of  self-sacrifice,  that  these  ideals  have  uplifted  me  and 
will  place  this  Congress  on  a  higher  plane  than  any  I  have  previous- 
ly attended.  The  spirit  of  accommodation,  the  spirit  of  good-will, 
the  spirit  of  co-operation  have  been  so  much  in  evidence  here  on  the 
part  of  the  delegates  from  so  many  different  lands.  I  wish  that  we 
at  this  particular  time  would  pledge  ourselves,  each  and  every  del- 
egate,— and  I  hesitate  to  even  give  thought  or  expression  at  this 
time  to  this  idea,  but  this  Congress  is  outstanding  in  my  mind 
as  the  one  Congress  that  has  not  been  stamped  all  over  with  the 
dollar  mark.  We  have  discussed  here  questions  of  public  service 
and  I  hesitate  to  sound  a  note  of  dollar  interest,  but  it  does  seem 
to  me  that  we  are  not  going  to  achieve  our  object,  that  we  are 
not  going  to  be  able  to  benefit  in  the  largest  possible  measure,  un- 
less each  personal  delegate  feels  it  his  personal  duty  to  co-op- 
erate with  the  officers  providing  the  means  for  the  larger  ac- 
tivities, the  machinery  for  which  has  been  provided  today. 

If  it  is  in  order,  Mr.  President,  I  should  like  to  ask  every  del- 
egate to  stand  on  his  feet  and  promise  to  keep  strongly  and  per- 
sistently after  new  members  in  his  individual  country. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  Chair  will  ask  all  delegates  and 
guests  who  will  pledge  with  themselves  in  their  respective  coun- 
tries to  do  everything  possible  to  carry  out  the  resolutions  adopted 
this  morning,  to  rise. 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  387 

It  is  unanimous. 

MR.  McCLATCHY:  May  I  suggest  in  line  with  the  remarks 
of  Mr.  Brown  that  I  think  it  might  be  well  to  send  out  a  blank 
to  each  particular  representative  of  the  Congress  before  he  de- 
parts from  Honolulu, — two  blank  subscription  forms  that  they 
might  indicate  thereon  their  subscriptions  as  individual  members 
and  also  if  so  disposed  their  subscriptions  on  the  part  of  the  paper 
they  represent,  for  corporate  membership. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  The  suggestion  of  Mr.  McClatchy  will 
be  referred  to  the  Executive  Committee  for  action  and  I  presume 
will  be  acted  upon  with  promptness.  There  will  be  a  dotted  line 
on  the  blank  and  you  will  do  what  you  are  supposed  to  do  on  the 
dotted  line. 

The  Chair  announces  that  there  will  be  a  meeting  of  the  new 
Executive  Committee  called  within  the  next  few  hours  of  which 
due  notice  to  the  members  of  the  Executive  Committee  will  be 
given. 

Now,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  we  have  come  to  the  close  of  the 
formal  sessions  except  the  brief  final  session  of  this  second 
Congress  of  the  World's  Press. 

I  think  it  would  be  entirely  proper,  as  the  Governor  of  the 
Territory  of  Hawaii  said  the  opening  word  of  the  sessions  of 
the  Congress  to  have  him  say  a  word  at  this  closing  session  of  the 
Congress,  the  Chair  reserving  always  the  right  to  say  a  word 
after  the  Governor  finishes. 

GOVERNOR  FARRINGTON:  Mr.  President,  and  Fellow 
Delegates  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World :  I  made  it  a  special 
point  to  come  out  here  this  afternoon  in  order  that  I  might  par- 
ticipate in  some  of  the  active  duties  of  this  Congress,  but  I  had 
no  idea  I  was  to  participate  in  this  manner  in  giving  you  a  final 
word,  not  the  final  word  but  the  final  word  previous  to  the  last 
word  of  the  President. 

I  deeply  regret  that  it  has  been  impossible  for  me  to  be  with 
you  here  at  your  regular  daily  sessions.  I  like  Congresses  of 
this  character;  I  like  conventions  of  this  character. 

As  your  newly-elected  President  was  speaking  to  you  on  his 
acceptance  of  the  duties  for  another  term,  I  noticed  that  he  used 
the  word  frequently  "journalist."  Now  you  know  I  have  always 
been  in  the  rough  and  tumble  of  newspaper  life  and  I  am  glad  to 


388      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

have  somebody  come  along  once  in  a  while  and  dignify  my  pro- 
fession a  little  more  than  I  do  myself,  because  in  my  newspaper 
work,  in  my  activities  from  a  reporter  to  business  manager,  no 
sooner  has  one  day's  work  been  finished  than  I  wonder  what  we 
are  going  to  do  for  the  next.  It  is  either  a  story  or  the  program 
for  the  paper  or  an  endeavor  to  find  the  necessary  dollar  where- 
by we  might  be  fed  and  clothed  for  another  day. 

This  is  the  first  opportunity  I  have  had  of  looking  upon  a 
body  of  journalists  from  the  standpoint  of  official  position,  and 
I  assure  you,  gentlemen,  that  I  have  enjoyed  it,  not  because  I  am 
pleased  to  be  sort  of  set  apart  from  you  for  a  time  being,  but 
I  am  glad  to  get  the  new  point  of  view.  Out  in  my  back  yard 
is  a  fig  tree  which  has  given  me  a  number  of  valuable  lessons 
on  points  of  view.  At  various  times  of  the  year  it  bears  fruit 
and  I  go  and  pick  it  until  I  think  the  tree  is  entirely  harvested  from 
fruit ;  then  I  get  up  into  the  tree  and  see  there  is  more  there 
and  it  has  been  a  lesson  to  me. 

So  I  am  pleased  to  have  a  new  point  of  view  of  journalism, 
newspaper  writers  and  the  men  who  furnish  the  wherewithal  of 
the  profession. 

I  have  failed  to  tell  you  I  think  of  how  this  thing  started  so 
far  as  Honolulu  is  concerned,  and  I  think  you  ought  to  know, 
because  possibly  it  is  typical  of  journalistic  enterprise.  It  is 
not  a  long  story  nor  an  ornamental  story,  I  know,  and  there  is 
nothing  particularly  exciting  about  it.  But  as  I  was  sitting  in 
my  office  of  the  Star-Bulletin  one  day,  Mr.  Thurston  came  in 
with  a  clipping  in  his  hand  and  he  said,  "Mr.  Farrington,  do 
you  know  Walter  Williams?"  I  said,  "I  do."  "Well,"  he  said, 
"Here  is  a  clipping  from  the  Editor  and  Publisher  which  says 
that  the  people  of  Sydney  have  given  up  the  Press  Congress  of 
the  World  and  it  seems  to  me  that  we  ought  to  get  that  Press 
Congress  for  Honolulu."  I  said,  "All  right,  let's  get  it."  He 
said :  "I  don't  know  Dean  Williams  and  I  understand  that  you 
do  and  I  wish  that  you  would  join  with  me  and  see  if  we  cannot 
work  out  some  sort  of  scheme  whereby  we  can  extend  an  in- 
vitation to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  so  that  they  shall 
come  here."  I  said,  "All  right,  anything  I  can  do  I  am  willing 
to  do."  So  we  got  up  a  telegram  there  and  then  and  sent  it 
to  Dr.  Williams  inviting  him  in  the  name  of  the  Territory  to 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  389 

bring  his  Press  Congress  of  the  World  to  Honolulu.  In  the 
course  of  our  shaping  up  of  that  telegram,  we  enlisted  the  name 
and  effort  of  Alexander  Hume  Ford,  who  has  to  do  with  most 
anything  that  circles  around  the  Pacific,  and  through  Mr.  Ford 
we  enlisted  the  then  Governor  of  the  Territory,  Governor  Mc- 
Carthy, and  we  sent  on  this  telegram.  Mr.  Williams  responded 
very  favorably,  communicating  that  it  would  be  appropriate  for 
the  Congress  to  have  some  money  in  order  to  guarantee  meeting" 
here.  So  Mr.  Ford,  Mr.  Thurston  and  myself  wondered  if  we 
could  guarantee  that  money.  Mr.  Ford  said  he  would  be  ready 
with  his  $5,000,  Mr.  Thurston  said  he  would  guarantee  his 
$5,000  and  then  and  there  the  thing  was  settled.  I  have  some- 
times thought  that  some  newspaper  enterprises  have  started  on 
faith  just  as  that  did,  but  of  course  we  knew  with  whom  we  were 
dealing  as  far  as  our  community  was  concerned,  and  from  that 
time  on  the  enterprise  grew,  and  it  has  been  a  pleasure  to  be  as- 
sociated with  that  enterprise  in  various  capacities.  You  are  not 
going  to  leave  us  right  now,  you  are  going  to  have  a  further  ses- 
sion in  connection  with  the  Pan-Pacific  Congress  tomorrow. 

I  have  followed  through  the  newspapers  the  papers  read  and 
resolutions  passed  by  this  Congress,  and  I  am  very  sure  that  the 
expectations  of  those  who  have  felt  that  this  Congress  would 
have  some  definite  beneficial  influence  on  that  Congress  which 
is  to  be  assembled  in  Washington  next  month,  those  who  ex- 
pected much  from  this  Congress,  have  by  no  means  been  dis- 
appointed. 

I  am  gratified  to  be  here  with  you  on  the  closing  session  and 
since  Dean  Williams  is  to  have  the  last  word  I  will  not  hold 
you  longer.    (Applause). 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  If  the  Governor  of  Hawaii  gets  inspira- 
tion and  suggestion  by  climbing  a  fig  tree  in  his  back  yard  and 
picking  the  fruit  therefrom,  I  tremble  to  think  what  would  be 
the  consequences  to  Hawaii  if  that  was  a  cocoanut  palm  and  that 
only  in  that  way  he  could  get  such  interesting  and  valuable  sug- 
gestions as  he  has  presented  to  us  this  afternoon.  I  am  also 
pleased  to  know  that  he  acknowledges  in  public  that  he  knows 
me. 

His  incidental  suggestion  with  regard  to  the  use  of  the  word 
journalist  permits  me  to  say  there  is  no  other  general  term  that 


390      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

applies  ill  all  countries  as  the  word  journalist  does.  In  one 
country  it  means  the  man  that  keeps  the  press  and  runs  the  ma- 
chinery, and  something  else  in  another  country.  Journalist  gives 
the  suggestion  of  dignity.  I  also  have  recently  become  a  jour- 
nalist. I  v^as  a  newspaperman  before  I  associated  with  the 
Press  Congress,  and  I  am  pleased  to  have  that  word  for  use  as 
it  adds  dignity  to  the  profession. 

We  are  happy  to  have  the  closing  word  of  Governor  Far- 
rington  at  this  session  and  also  happy  to  know  that  we  are  to 
remain  in  Honolulu  under  his  jurisdiction  for  some  days  longer, 
to  our  great  enjoyment. 

Is  there  any  further  business  to  come  before  the  Congress? 
Let  me  say  then  once  more,  let  me  emphasize  once  more,  the 
high  value  which  I  think  has  been  achieved  by  the  sessions 
of  the  Congress,  the  tone  and  spirit  of  the  papers  and  addresses 
and  the  movements  that  have  been  begun. 

The  Congress  is  adjourned. 


TENTH   SESSION. 

TUESDAY,  NOVEMBER  1,  1921. 

The  Congress  was  called  to  order  at  ten  o'clock  a.  m.  by 
President  Williams. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  American  delegates  to  the  Congress 
have  signed  a  statement  in  reference  to  conditions  in  the  Terri- 
tory of  Hawaii,  and  the  obligations  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment as  they  see  them,  with  respect  to  these  conditions.  I  will 
read  the  paper  signed  by  the  American  delegates : 

We,  the  American  Delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World, 
now  in  session  at  Honolulu,  Territory  of  Hawaii,  after  a  sojourn  in 
Hawaii  of  three  weeks,  during  which  time  we  have  visited  the  three 
principal  islands  of  the  group,  and  had  opportunity  to  observe  all 
phases  of  life  in  this  Territory — social,  educational,  political,  agricul- 
tural and  mercantile — have  noted  the  facts  hereunder  set  forth,  which, 
in  our  opinion,  vitally  affect  American  interests,  and  we  desire,  there- 
fore, to  place  ourselves  on  record  concerning  the  same,  as  follows: 

1.  We  find  that  the  predominating  spirit  and  controlling  influence 
in  these   Islands  is  overwhelmingly  American. 

That  we  are  strongly  of  the  opinion  that,  not  only  from  American 
viewpoint,  but  from  that  of  the  perpetuation  of  orderly  government  and 
the  peace  of  the  world — more  particularly  that  of  the  Pacific  regions — 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  391 

this    status    should    be    sustained,    maintained,    and    extended,  in    every 
legitimate,  practicable  manner. 

2.  We  find  that  growing  out  of  conditions  incident  to  the  war, 
there  is  an  abnormal  shortage  in  the  number  of  agricultural  laborers 
in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  by  virtue  of  which  every  principal  industry 
upon  the  maintenance  of  which  American  dominance  depends,  is  en- 
dangered. 

That  it  is  our  earnest  belief  that  the  conditions  now  prevalent  jus- 
tify and  require  the  enactment  of  the  measure  now  pending  before 
Congress,  relating  to  immigration  of  laborers  to  Hawaii,  under  the 
direct  control  of  the  President  and  the  Secretary  of  Labor,  or  some 
measure  affording  similar  relief,  if  American  supremacy  in  Hawaii 
is  to  be  successfully  and  normally  maintained. 

3.  We  find  that  in  respect  to  every  obligation  incident  to  state- 
hood, imposed  by  law,  such  as  payment  of  federal  taxes,  customs  and 
internal  revenues,  subjection  to  military  draft  laws  and  all  other 
laws  applying  generally  to  the  several  States,  Hawaii  is  included. 

That  during  the  war,  government  officials  and  civil  organizations 
of  the  mainland  treated  Hawaii  as  being  upon  the  same  plane  of  ob- 
ligation with  the  States  of  the  Union,  to  make  pro  rata  subscriptions 
to  Liberty  Bonds,  Postal  Savings  Stamps,  the  Red  Cross,  the  Y.  M. 
C.  A.,  the  Relief  of  Europe,  and  every  other  patriotic  and  philanthropic 
appeal  for  money  and  service. 

That  such  appeals  were  fully  and  loyally  responded  to  by  the  people 
of  Hawaii,  they  going  "over  the  top"  in  every  instance,  well  up  in 
the  lead  in  percentage  of  excess  over  the  quota  assigned  and  in  prompt- 
ness of  response. 

That  notwithstanding  this  continuous  policy  of  assigning  obliga- 
tions and  imposing  burdens,  upon  a  basis  pro  rata  with  that  of  the 
several  States  of  the  Union,  Congress  and  Departments  of  Government 
at  Washington,  have  been,  and  still  are  systematically  and  persistently 
excluding  Hawaii  from  participation  in  the  benefits  under  appropria- 
tion bills  which  provide  for  payment  pro  rata  to  all  the  States ;  such, 
for  example,  as  appropriations  for  roads,  for  education,  and  all  other 
bills  of  a  similar  general  character. 

That,  in  our  opinion,  this  policy  is  unjust  and  inequitable,  and  should 
be  changed  so  that  Hawaii,  shall  be  permitted  to  share  in  the  privi- 
leges and  benefits  incident  to  its  connection  with  the  American  Union, 
upon  the  same  basis  that  it  bears  the  burdens  and  is  subject  to  the 
obligations  incident  thereto. 

As  this  meeting  this  morning  is  merely  for  the  adoption  of 
resolutions,  and  as  many  of  the  delegates  have  already  gone  to 
their  homes,  and  furthermore,  as  this  is  a  domestic  question  and 
not  a  world  question,  and  still  furthermore,  because  it  deals  with 
questions  other  than  that  purely  concerning  journalism,  the  paper 
having  been  signed  by  the  American  delegates,  will  be  placed  in 


392       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  record  book  of  the  Congress  and  the  Secretary  will  be  in- 
structed to  make  note  of  it  as  representing  the  views  of  the 
American  delegates  here  to  such  authorities  as  it  should  properly 

go- 

MR.  DOTSON :  I  wish  to  inquire  whether  it  was  your  in- 
tention to  convey  that  it  had  been  signed  by  all  the  American 
delegates  as  representing  their  sentiments. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  No,  only  of  those  who  signed  it. 

MRS.  WARREN :  Some  of  us  have  not  had  any  opportunity 
to  sign  it. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  They  will  have  an  opportunity  to  sign 
later. 

Next  in  order  is  the  report  of  the  Committee  on  Resolutions, 
to  be  presented  by  Mr.  Frank  P.  Glass,  the  Vice-Chairman  of 
the  Committee. 

MR.  GLASS:  Mr.  President  and  members  of  the  Press  Con- 
gress, I  beg  first  to  ofifer  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  the  delegates  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  as- 
sembled in  formal  session  at  Honolulu  this  first  day  of  November  1921, 
do  hereby  make  grateful  acknowledgment  of  two  beautiful  gifts  of  silver 
from  the  Prime  Minister  and  Acting  Minister  of  Finance  of  China,  pre- 
sented by  Mr.  Hollington  K.  Tong,  of  Peking. 

Resolved  further,  That,  with  deep  appreciation  of  the  spirit  of  world 
fellowship  in  which  these  gifts  were  made,  they  be  accepted  by  this  Con- 
gress, to  be  retained  in  the  perpetual  possession  of  its  officers  as  reminders 
throughout  the  years  to  come  of  the  greatness  and  goodness  of  China. 

Resolved  further.  That  a  copy  of  this  resolution  be  incorporated  in  the 
record  of  this  day's  proceedings,  that  the  Secretary  be  directed  to  transmit 
copies  to  the  Prime  Minister  and  Acting  Minister  of  Finance  of  the  Chinese 
Government,  and  tliat  the  President  of  the  Congress  be  requested  to  convey 
to  them  in  person  at  his  first  convenience  the  thanks  of  this  body. 

The  resolutions  were  unanimously  adopted. 

MR.  GLASS:  I  have  the  privilege  for  the  Committee  on 
Resolutions  to  offer  the  following: 

Resolved,  That  it  is  the  wish  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  to 
make  permanent  record  of  its  heartfelt  gratitude  for  the  many  kindnesses 
and  constant  attention  its  delegates  have  received  at  the  hands  of  the 
people  of  Honolulu,  the  seat  of  the  Congress  of  1921,  and  of  all  the 
Hawaiian  Islands.  The  Congress  deeply  appreciates  its  welcome.  Through 
the  courtesy  and  daily  exertion  of  the  people  of  these  Islands,  it  has  been 
possible  to  hold  the  present  sessions  under  the  most  enjoyable  conditions. 
The  hospitality  extended  to  the  delegates  has  been  most  cordial,  spontaneous 
and  delightful. 


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Proceedings  of  the  Congress  393 

Resolved,  That  at  this  final  session  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World, 
in  Honolulu,  November  1,  1921,  the  delegates  here  assembled  desire  to 
express  their  deep  appreciation  of  the  tireless  efforts  of  L.  A.  Thurston, 
chairman  of  the  local  entertainment  committee,  and  his  associates,  to  make 
their  visit  in  Hawaii  in  every  way  delightful. 

Resolved,  Further,  that  while  appreciating  the  extent  to  which  all  the 
people  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii  have  combined  their  efforts  to  make 
pleasant  and  profitable  the  stay  of  the  Congress  delegates  in  their  Islands, 
it  is  desired  especially  to  express  appreciation  for  the  great  kindnesses 
shown  by  the  Hawaiian  Islands  Committee,  the  Honolulu  Press  Club,  the 
Honolulu  Ad  Club,  the  Oahu  Country  Club,  the  Pan  Pacific  Union,  the 
Honolulu  Automobile  Club,  the  Hawaiian  Patriotic  Societies,  tlie  Outrigger 
Canoe  Club,  the  Hawaiian  Pineapple  Packers'  Association,  the  Hawaiian 
Sugar  Planters'  Association,  the  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  the  Islands 
of  Hawaii  and  Maui,  and  the  United  States  Army  and  Navy. 

Mr.  President,  it  gives  me  unusual  pleasure  to  move  the  adop- 
tion of  these  resolutions.  I  don't  think  it  necessary  to  attempt 
anything  like  an  elaboration  of  them  or  emphasis  upon  them.  But 
I  believe  I  speak  the  heart,  as  well  as  the  mind,  of  every  del- 
egate present,  when  I  say,  that  the  few  weeks  spent  in  these 
Islands  have  been  one  of  the  most  delightful  episodes  of  our 
lives.  We  do  not  believe  that  anything  in  the  way  or  method  of 
our  entertainment  and  for  our  pleasure  could  have  been  advanced 
to  a  greater  degree.  (Applause.)  I  am  sure  that  everyone  of  us 
will  treasure  during  the  rest  of  our  lives  the  acquaintance  and 
the  charm  of  the  people  of  these  islands ;  that  we  will  understand 
sympathetically  their  trials  and  troubles  and  problems ;  that  we  will 
go  back  to  our  several  States  on  the  mainland  and  to  our  several 
countries  throughout  the  world,  watchful,  always  sympathetic 
with  the  laudable  and  progressive  aspirations  of  this  remarkable 
people,  this  extraordinary  aggregation  of  the  great  races  of  the 
world,  who  are  working  out  unusual  problems  in  the  most  ef- 
ficient and  harmonious  way. 

I  move  the  adoption  of  these  resolutions. 

MR.  J.  P.  HERRICK,  NEW  YORK:  I  second  the  motion. 

MR.  COUTOUPIS :  I  would  like  to  add  a  few  words  to  what 
Mr.  Glass  has  said.  I  would  like  to  express  my  thanks  for  the 
hospitality  shown  from  the  officials  down  to  the  people.  I  sup- 
pose that  none  of  us  will  forget  in  this  life  the  pleasant  and  de- 
lightful time  we  have  had  in  these  islands ;  the  Hawaiian  Islands 
and  the  Hawaiian  people,  will,  I  am  sure,  be  always  in  our 
minds. 


394       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

MR.  KESSELL  of  AUSTRALIA:  Mr.  President,  Fellow 
Members  of  the  Congress:  It  would  ill-become  an  Australian  to 
allow  a  resolution  such  as  that  so  ably  moved  by  Mr.  Glass  to 
pass  without  comment  from  Australia,  and  on  behalf  of  the 
Australian  delegates,  I  would  like  to  say  how  very  deeply  we 
appreciate  the  wonderful  kindness  of  the  residents  of  Honolulu 
during  our  stay  here. 

In  my  opinion  the  residents  of  Hawaii  have  discovered  the 
secret  of  perpetual  motion.  Ever  since  I  have  been  here  I  have 
been  on  the  move  from  early  morning  till  noon  and  from  noon 
until  evening.  Everything  that  could  be  done  has  been  done  to 
make  the  stay  of  the  delegates  a  pleasant  one.  We  came  hear- 
ing a  lot  about  the  Paradise  of  the  Pacific,  but  we  have  been 
more  than  surprised  by  what  has  been  done.  Somebody  has  said 
that  Australia  was  the  "Kohinoor"  of  the  British  Crown.  Well, 
I  will  say  that  if  this  is  the  Paradise  of  the  Pacific,  Australia 
is  the  Pearl  of  the  Pacific  and  the  white  pearl  at  that.  We 
are  immensely  proud  of  our  country ;  we  believe  that 
we  are  a  hospitable  people,  but  having  seen  the  hospitality  of  the 
Paradise  of  the  Pacific,  it  makes  me  wonder  if,  when  you  hold 
a  Congress  in  Australia,  we  shall  be  able  to  hold  a  candle  to  the 
one  held  here.  You  have  given  us  an  opportunity  of  seeing  the 
whole  of  the  interests  of  this  Island,  and  as  far  as  I  am  per- 
sonally concerned,  what  impressed  me  most,  apart  from  your 
activities  in  a  commercial  sense,  has  been  the  military  and  naval 
spectacles.  Of  course,  I  would  not  display  the  bad  taste  to  touch 
on  domestic  matters.  I  am  Australian  and  you  are  members  of 
the  United  States.  But  I  heard  a  gentleman  say  during  the 
military  review  that  apparently  America  trusts  in  God  and  keeps 
her  powder  dry,  and  Saturday,  at  the  Naval  review,  if  I  so  far 
forgot  myself  as  to  give  advice,  I  would  say :  "Trust  in  God 
and  keep  your  oil  tanks  full." 

I  will  say  this,  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  that 
we  in  Australia  watch  with  tremendous  interest  the  problems 
with  which  you  are  so  ably  dealing.  You  and  we  are  one.  We 
feel  that  more  than  ever  now  since  we  have  met  you  and  got 
to  know  you.  We  feel  that  your  interests  and  ours  are  identical. 
We  feel  that  what  you  are  doing  is  making  Australia  wonder- 
fully safe,  and,  as  an  Australian,  I  give  you  greetings  from  the 


i 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  395 

Pearl  of  the  Pacific.  I  trust  that  some  day  you  will  come  across, 
every  one  of  you,  and  see  what  our  country  is  like.  We  have 
our  wonders,  we  have  our  beauties,  but  above  all,  we  have  our 
hearts  that  beat  for  America.  When  you  come  to  us,  just  as 
you  have  received  us  as  members  of  the  great  race,  so  when 
you  come  to  Australia  we  will  hold  out  the  hand  of  fellowship ; 
we  will  take  you  to  our  hearts  and  we  will  discuss  with  you  as 
abundantly  as  you  have  done  with  us  some  of  our  domestic 
troubles,  that  you  may  help  us.  I  cannot  use  the  Hawaiian  term 
which  is  filled  with  beauty,  but  will  say  to  you  at  this,  our  fare- 
well meeting,  on  behalf  of  the  Australian  delegates, — I  say 
goodbye  to  you  in  the  good  old  sense  of  the  term,  God  be  with 
you,  and  I  am  sure  in  our  hearts  we  will  never  forget  what  has 
been  done  for  us,  and  I  would  like  the  residents  of  Hawaii  to 
take  from  me  on  behalf  of  the  Australian  delegates  our  heart- 
felt thanks  for  the  wonderful  entertainment  given  us. 

MR.  HIN  WONG:  Mr.  President,  Members  of  the  Press 
Congress :  In  supporting  the  resolution  expressing  the  apprecia- 
tion of  the  Congress  for  the  kindness  shown  by  the  people  of 
Hawaii,  I  would  like  to  say  that  Hawaii  is  truly  a  Paradise,  as 
she  has  no  racial  prejudice  and  oflfers  opportunity  to  all  who 
come  to  her.  On  behalf  of  the  Chinese  delegation,  I  wish  to  ex- 
press not  only  the  appreciation  for  the  entertainments  offered 
them  during  the  sessions  of  the  Congress,  but  also  for  the  kind 
treatment  the  people  of  Hawaii  have  always  extended  to  the 
Chinese,  visiting  or  residents.  I  wish  the  world  to  know  through 
the  journalists  from  all  parts  that,  while  the  Chinese  at  home 
have  to  work  hard  in  order  to  send  their  children  abroad  to  re- 
ceive a  college  education,  Chinese  boys  and  girls  are  able  to  get 
their  higher  education  here  free,  like  the  rest  of  the  people  in 
Hawaii.  I  wish  those  who  have  the  good  of  the  Chinese  at 
heart  would  encourage  some  Hawaiian  Chinese  young  men  and 
women  to  return  to  China  with  their  training,  as  we  need  them 
in  China,  or  do  something  for  the  people  in  the  land  of  their 
parents.  If  other  countries  and  communities  will  only  treat  the 
Chinese  as  well  as  Hawaii  does,  there  will  be  no  dififiiculty  or 
racial  problems,  as  Hawaii  has  had  no  difficulty  with  the  Chinese. 
I  am  sure  the  Chinese  do  appreciate  the  good  that  is  being  done 
for  their  people  in  Hawaii,  and  they  will  return  thanks  by  pro- 
moting peace  at  home  and  for  the  world. 


396      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

MR.  BETETA:  May  I  say  a  few  words,  Mr.  President,  on 
behalf  of  the  Spanish  Press  Association?  This  Press  Congress, 
I  think,  has  accompHshed  a  great  success.  And  we  members  of 
the  Press  Congress  have  enjoyed  one  of  the  most  wonderful 
times  of  our  lives. 

The  Press  Congress  at  this  session  has  remarked  the  fact 
in  the  first  place  that  journalists  from  every  part  of  the  world  de- 
sire to  work  for  peace.  It  is  interesting  to  note  this  is  a  unani- 
mous movement  on  the  part  of  journalists,  who  are  the  best  rep- 
resentatives of  public  opinion,  to  work  for  the  future  peace  of 
the  world  and  to  have  selected  as  one  of  the  best  means  for  it 
the  construction  of  a  League  of  Journalists.  From  its  present 
meeting,  our  institution  will  grow  up  more  and  more  and  through 
the  League  of  Journalists  will  grow  each  day  better  able  to  en- 
force the  ideas  of  human  peace.  We  could  not  have  chosen  a 
better  place  for  the  foundation  of  these  ideas  of  peace  through 
the  public  understanding  among  the  peoples  of  the  earth,  than 
Honolulu.  We  have  laid  this  foundation  in  the  very  heart  of 
the  most  cosmopolitan  people  of  the  world.  One  of  the  most 
impressive  events  of  our  entertainment  in  the  islands,  to  my 
mind,  were  the  words  pronounced  by  the  little  girl  at  the  Japanese 
Theatre  in  Hilo,  when  that  little  girl  told  us  "I  am  only  a  little 
girl,  but  I  will  make  you  a  little  speech."  That  little  girl,  born 
in  Honolulu,  or  shall  I  say  in  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  from  Jap- 
anese ancestors,  educated  in  the  American  Spirit,  willing  to  be 
an  American,  and  feeling  herself  facing  the  big  problems  which 
is  the  racial  problem  of  this  country, — the  impressive  words  of 
that  little  girl  are  in  themselves  a  big  lesson  and  of  the  best  im- 
pulse to  move  the  spirit  on  which  the  ideas  of  this  Press  Con- 
gress is  constructed.  There  is  no  reason  for  all  men,  all  in- 
habitants of  the  world  having  to  confront  big  problems  of  coun- 
try, because  of  having  been  born  in  one  particular  place  or  an- 
other. This  little  girl  is  the  best  lesson  in  the  construction  of 
our  ideas. 

So  far  as  the  entertainment  is  concerned,  we  have  enjoyed 
here,  let  me  say,  hospitality  and  kindnesses,  so  well  expressed 
by  the  words  of  the  resolution,  that  I  will  only  add  that  I  brought 
with  me  the  invitation  of  Spain  to  hold  there  our  next  meeting. 
I  have  had  the  honor  to  present  it  on  behalf  of  the  City  of  Seville, 


I 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  397 

and  so  wonderful  have  been  the  demonstrations  given  to  us  by 
the  people  of  the  Hawaiian  Islands,  by  its  authorities,  by  every 
institution  of  Honolulu,  and  by  its  people,  that  I  am  really  afraid 
if  my  invitation  would  be  accepted,  I  do  not  know  how  we,  the 
Spanish  speaking  peoples,  could  hope  to  surpass  this  entertain- 
ment, but  I  will  say  that  we  will  do  nearly  as  well. 

MR.  LUDVIG  SAXE:  Mr.  President,  allow  me  to  say  that 
I  expected  very  much  from  this  meeting  of  the  Congress,  and 
from  the  stay  here  in  Honolulu,  but  I  consider  everything  has 
been  beyond  my  expectations.  I  have  travelled  half  way  around 
the  world  to  come  here,  but  if  it  had  been  necessary  to  have 
gone  all  around  the  world,  it  would  have  been  worth  while.  I 
think  it  is  something  wonderful  the  way  the  people  of  Hawaii 
have  entertained  us,  and  I  just  wish  to  express  my  most  cordial 
thanks. 

THE  CHAIRMAN:  All  in  favor  of  the  adoption  of  the 
resolution  of  thanks,  as  presented  by  Acting  Chairman  of  the 
Committee,  Mr.  Glass,  will  make  it  known  by  rising. 

The  resolution  is  unanimously  adopted. 

I  have  now  the  privilege  of  presenting  to  you  your  new 
Secretary-Treasurer,  who  has  some  important  announcements  to 
read  into  the  record,  and  for  you  to  hear.  May  I  not  say  to 
you  that,  in  my  opinion,  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  ac- 
complished a  desirable  work  when  it  persuaded  Mr.  James  Wright 
Brown,  of  the  Editor  and  Publisher,  of  New  York  City,  to  serve 
in  this  important  position,  on  which  so  much  of  the  future  of 
the  Press  Congress  depends.  You  could  not  have  improved  upon 
him,  even  had  you  elected  all  of  yourselves  to  take  the  position 
that  he  is  to  occupy.   (Applause.) 

MR.  BROWN:  Mr.  President,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  of  the 
Congress :  I  very  deeply  appreciate  the  high  honor  that  you  have 
conferred  upon  me.  You  have  opened  the  door  to  a  larger  op- 
portunity of  service  and  that  is  the  animating  purpose,  my  ani- 
mating purpose,  in  accepting  this  task,  for  verily  it  is  a  task. 
If  we  are  to  carry  forward  in  the  future  as  aggressively,  and  let 
us  hope  more  aggressively,  the  work  of  cementing  the  bonds  of 
friendship  as  between  journalists  throughout  the  world,  then 
it  must  be  a  real  task,  a  task  of  consecrated,  devoted  service  on 
the  part  of  every  member  of  the  Congress.    I  would  like  to  have 


398      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

every  member  of  the  Congress  feel  that  he  has  a  personal  rep- 
resentative in  New  York  City,  who  is  at  all  times  at  your  serv- 
ice, willing  to  make  any  sacrifice  of  time  to  be  helpful  to  you 
and  helpful  in  promoting  the  spirit  of  journalistic  world  fra- 
ternity. It  is  worth  any  sacrifice  of  time  and  money  to  come 
to  know  such  men  as  we  have  come  to  know  here  in  this  Con- 
gress, newspaper  men  and  journalists,  men  like  Cohen,  Kessell, 
Davies  from  Australia,  Coutoupis  of  Greece,  Beteta  of  Latin 
America,  all  these  outstanding  journalists,  men  animated  by  lofty 
ideals,  and  I  for  one  feel  that  we  have  marched  along  the  high- 
way a  great  distance  in  this  Congress,  that  many  obstacles  have 
been  eliminated  here  and  that  we  will  go  forward  to  new  ac- 
complishments and  to  greater  performances. 

I  thank  you  most  sincerely,  Mr.  President  and  Delegates,  for 
your  kindness  and  courtesy  to  me,  and  I  should  like  to  have 
you  feel  that  I  am  at  all  times  at  your  service. 

The  President  has  appointed  some  important  committees.  As 
Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Communications:  Col.  Edward 
Frederick  Lawson,  of  the  London  Daily  Telegraph,  London, 
England.  As  Chairman  of  the  Committee  to  Study  the  Present 
Conditions,  Extent  and  Methods  of  the  Chinese  and  Korean 
Press  Services,  with  a  view  to  recommending  means  of  im- 
provement, if  necessary,  he  has  named  Mr.  Frank  P.  Glass,  of 
the  United  States.  As  members  of  the  Executive  Committee,  the 
Governing  Committee  has  named  the  following,  through  the  power 
of  substitution  given  to  the  Committee  by  this  Congress :  K.  Sugi- 
mura  of  Japan,  Virgilio  R.  Beteta,  of  Guatemala,  Gardiner  Kline, 
of  the  United  States,  Oswald  Mayrand  of  Canada,  and  E.  F. 
Lawson  of  England.  The  President  and  Secretary-Treasurer  are 
ex-officio  members  of  the  Executive  Committee.  He  has  also 
named  a  committee  to  draft  a  reply  to  President  Harding,  con- 
sisting of  Messrs.  James  Wright  Brown  of  New  York,  Secretary- 
Treasurer  ;  Guy  Innes  of  Melbourne,  Australia,  and  Virgilio  Rod- 
riguez Beteta  of  Guatemala. 

I  think  I  should  take  advantage  of  this  opportunity,  if  I  may, 
Mr.  President,  to  emphasize  the  needs  of  carrying  forward  the 
new  financial  system  which  this  Congress  has  inaugurated.  As 
you  know,  the  dues  of  individual  members  have  been  fixed  at  five 
dollars  per  year;  newspapers  may  join  at  fifty  dollars  a  year,  and 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  399 

sustaining  members  may  contribute  any  sum  desired.  I  think 
most  of  the  delegates  in  the  room  have  already  paid  the  Secre- 
tary-Treasurer their  dues  for  1922.  As  you  know,  present  mem- 
bership covers  the  year  1921,  and  the  remittance  you  have  made 
covers  the  dues  for  1922.  Dues  are  on  the  calendar  year  basis. 
If  there  are  any  who  have  not  paid,  I  do  hope  that  they  will  see 
the  Secretary-Treasurer  before  they  leave,  and  let  us  leave  Hono- 
lulu with  a  one  hundred  per  cent  result  of  paid-in-advance  dues 
and  this  I  assure  you  will  be  the  aim  of  the  Treasurer  to  maintain. 

THE  CHAIRMAN :  Now,  Ladies  and  Gentlemen,  We  have 
come  to  the  close  of  the  sessions  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World  in  Hawaii.  It  has  been  a  most  wonderful  meeting  in  every 
way,  more  than  two  hundred  representatives  from  eighteen  na- 
tions have  registered  during  the  sessions  of  the  Congress  their 
personal  attendance.  Economic  conditions  and  the  disarmament 
conference  at  Washington  have  to  a  degree  interfered  with  the 
size  of  the  attendance,  but  those  of  you  who  are  here  will,  I  am 
confident,  agree  with  the  Chair  in  its  conclusion  that  nothing  has 
interfered  with  the  quality  of  the  delegates  that  have  attended 
or  with  the  representative  character  of  the  Congress  itself. 

The  resolutions  that  you  have  passed  paid  a  tribute  to  the 
hospitality,  the  marvelous  hospitality,  of  the  Territorial  Govern- 
ment and  the  people  of  these  Islands.  It  may  not  be  beyond  the 
propriety  of  the  occasion  for  the  Chair  to  add  on  his  behalf,  and 
he  thinks  also  on  behalf  of  the  Press  Congress,  a  special  word 
of  appreciation  to  the  Honorable  Wallace  R.  Farrington,  Gover- 
nor of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  the  Chairman  of  the  Committee ; 
Mr.  L.  A.  Thurston,  an  intellectual  giant  and  a  master  of  organiza- 
tion. Chairman  of  the  Committee  on  Entertainment ;  Mr.  Alex- 
ander Hume  Ford,  the  dynamic  force  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union, 
and  also  Mr.  L.  W.  de  vis  Norton,  the  efficient  Executive  Secre- 
tary, as  well  as  to  the  various  members  of  the  Committees  here  as- 
sembled, for  our  hospitable  reception  and  their  great  and  thought- 
ful consideration  unto  us.  May  it  not  also  be  added  that  nowhere 
could  the  Congress  have  received  more  generous  treatment ;  its 
deliberations,  discussions  and  addresses  more  faithfully  reported 
than  has  been  reported  in  the  newspapers  in  the  City  of  Honolulu. 
(Applause.)  It  is  to  me  as  a  journalist  a  source  of  pride  in  the 
profession  of  which  I  am  a  member,  that  we  have  here  in  this 


400      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

remarkable  city  newspapers  that  are  so  fair  and  enterprising  and 
aggressive,  and  at  the  same  time  hold  to  the  high  standard  that 
should  characterize  the  profession  of  journalism  everywhere. 
One  cannot  mention  the  various  individuals,  much  as  all  of  us 
would  like  to  mention  individuals  who  have  contributed  so  much 
to  our  happy  stay  and  to  the  profit  of  this  Congress.  The  reception 
that  we  have  received,  the  greeting  that  we  have  had,  and  the  aid 
given  to  us  here  has  not  been  confined  to  any  race  or  any  nation- 
ality or  any  group,  but  has  been  spontaneous,  general  and  wide- 
spread. The  American  sentiment  that  has  been  dominant  has 
been  aided  in  its  expression  of  hospitality  by  the  Japanese,  Ko- 
reans, Chinese,  and  every  other  racial  line  represented  in  these 
Islands.  There  has  been  a  systematic  efifort  to  express  a  fine  sen- 
timent of  hospitality  and  gratitude  to  the  visitors.  We  may  not 
have  entered  the  kingdom  of  friendship  as  yet,  nor  become  mem- 
bers of  a  democracy  of  human  brotherhood,  but  surely  the  gates 
into  the  kingdom  of  friendship  and  the  doors  of  the  brotherhood 
of  democracy  have  been  opened  wider  and  swing  easier  in  this 
Paradise  of  the  Pacific  than  in  any  other  community. 

The  Congress  has  accomplished  some  notable  results.  First, 
it  seems  to  me,  in  its  results,  has  been  an  added  acquaintanceship 
with' the  Pacific  Ocean  questions ;  a  larger  knowledge  of  the  situa- 
tion as  it  exists  on  the  blue  waters  of  this  great  ocean,  and  here- 
after, whatever  else  may  be  true  of  the  delegates  to  this  Con- 
gress, they  will  no  longer  have  closed  eyes  or  shuttered  minds 
when  it  comes  to  the  consideration  of  the  great  questions  which 
are  to  be  solved,  if  solved  at  all,  in  this  laboratory  of  human  races 
here  on  the  Pacific. 

The  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,  left  as  a  legacy  to  the  coun- 
tries bordering  on  the  Pacific,  would  of  itself  be  a  sufficient 
achievement.  But  that  is  not  all.  In  the  papers  that  have  been  read, 
in  the  addresses  delivered,  in  the  discussions  that  have  followed,  in 
the  debates  in  the  Congress  (and  particularly  the  debates  out- 
side) there  have  been  considered  questions  of  high  import  to  the 
profession  of  journalism  and  of  high  concern  to  mankind.  To 
ensure  as  far  as  compatible  with  the  transaction  of  its  business  that 
members  of  the  press  should  be  admited  to  sessions  of  the  Wash- 
ington Conference;  to  plan  international  communication  so  there 
should  be  lower  rates  charged  for  communication  between  conti- 


Proceedings  of  the  Congress  401 

nents  and  peoples ;  to  continue  the  United  States  Naval  Radio 
facilities  for  trans-oceanic  news  communications ;  to  approve  of 
methods  for  better  journalistic  education;  to  communicate  with 
the  proposed  International  Press  Union  in  Belgium ;  to  inquire 
into  the  present  methods,  conditions  and  extent  of  the  Chinese 
foreign  press  service,  with  a  view  to  recommending  means  for 
improvement,  if  necessary ;  to  inquire  into  the  present  methods, 
condition  and  extent  of  the  Korean  foreign  press  service;  to  re- 
move the  vexatious  restrictions  on  passports ;  to  secure  the  es- 
tablishment of  permanent  peace  through  making  accessible  to 
the  press  everywhere  all  avenues  of  information,  that  the  world 
may  be  correctly  and  unreservedly  informed  on  public  matters ; 
to  permit  the  interchange  of  journalists ;  to  work  for  a  spirit  of 
world  fellowship ;  to  establish  and  maintain  an  absolute  freedom 
of  the  press  everywhere  and  to  lend  our  influence  as  far  as  may 
be  in  our  respective  spheres,  to  the  laying  aside  of  some  at  least 
of  the  weapons  of  warfare,  that  the  world  may  turn  more  quickly 
to  the  practice  of  peace;  these  are  substantial  contributions  of 
the  World's  Press  Congress  through  the  resolutions  adopted, 
and  adopted  with  unanimity. 

We  have  set  in  motion  forces  that  are  hereafter  to  do  more 
good  than  even  we  have  in  mind  just  now.  The  ad  interim  com- 
mittees which  have  been  named  and  which  are  to  be  named,  which 
are  to  consider  the  interchange  of  journalists,  the  freedom  of 
the  press  and  other  questions  of  high  import,  are  to  carry  for- 
ward the  work  of  this  Congress  until  its  next  session.  This 
alone,  if  nothing  else  had  been  accomplished,  would  again  have 
marked  this  Press  Congress  of  the  World  as  of  high  value  to 
journalists  in  every  land.  The  Congress  itself  has  been  made 
permanent.  The  preliminary  organization  in  San  Francisco  in 
1915  has  brought  together  this  first  session  of  another  World 
Congress  and  here  in  Honolulu  there  has  been  established  upon, 
it  seems  to  me,  a  permanent  basis,  a  Congress  of  the  World's 
Press  that  means  much  for  the  uplifting  of  journalism  and 
through  journalism  unto  the  high  service  of  humanity. 

Centuries  ago,  the  written  word  tells  us  that  after  days  of 
chaos  in  the  then  universe,  the  Lord  said :  "Let  there  be  light, 
and  there  was  light."  It  seems  to  me  if  we  have  faith  in  our 
own  profession  and  if  we  understand  what  it  means  unto  the 

2fi 


402      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

world  today,  that  if  some  great  Supreme  Being  said  now  "Let 
there  be  light,"  there  would  be  journalism,  for  the  light  that 
journalism  is  to  spread  upon  problems  and  peoples  and  policies 
and  purposes  is  the  light  that  is  to  shine  more  and  more  unto 
the  perfect  day,  a  living  sun  for  every  man,  woman  and  child 
beneath  the  skies. 

And  so,  with  that  high  purpose,  we  come  to  the  close  of  a 
wonderful  session.  If  the  Press  Congress  is  to  succeed,  it  is  to 
succeed,  not  by  individual  effort  of  officers  or  members,  but  by 
that  spirit  of  co-operation  and  comradeship  that  is  characteristic 
of  our  own  profession  wherever  journalists  meet  together  the 
world  around.  It  has  been  demonstrated  in  these  sessions,  it 
will  be  demonstrated  more  and  more  as  the  years  pass,  and  it  is 
through  that  spirit  of  co-operation  that  the  Press  Congress  of  to- 
morrow and  the  many  morroAvs  to  follow  is  to  do  its  greatest  and 
best  work.  The  individual  whom  you  have  honored  with  the 
presidency  says  this  final  word  with  his  love  and  thanks  to  each 
of  you  for  your  kindness  unto  him  personally.  With  appreciation 
and  thanks  to  you  all,  and  with  a  final  word  of  challenge  unto 
higher  consecration  unto  a  nobler  service,  he  declares  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World  in  Hawaii  adjourned. 


V. 

MESSAGES  TO  THE  CONGRESS. 

Many  messages  were  received  at  the  Congress  from  associa- 
tions of  journalists  and  individual  journalists  throughout  the 
world.  Some  of  these  messages  are  included  in  the  proceedings 
and  others  follow : 

E.  Lansing  Ray,  President  and  Editor,  St.  Louis  Globe-Democrat,  St. 
Louis,  Missouri. 

Permit  me,  not  only  personally  but  for  the  entire  staff  of  the  Globe- 
Democrat,  to  wish  the  greatest  success  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World. 

The  Honorable  Arthur  M.  Hyde,  Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Missouri,  paid  me  the  high  compliment  of  appointment  as  one  of  Missouri's 
representatives.  It  was  with  the  sincerest  regret  tliat  I  felt  compelled  to 
advise  him  that  I  could  not  attend. 

The  Fourth  Estate  is  the  great  guiding  light  of  the  world.  Without  it, 
there  would  be  medieval  darkness.  In  the  troubled  and  serious  times  of 
the  reconstruction  period,  following  the  calamitous  World  War,  when 
nations  and  races  are  inclined  to  look  askance  at  one  another,  what  can  be 
more  fitting  and  offer  greater  promise  of  helpfulness  than  a  meeting  of  this 
kind? 

As  a  gathering  of  representatives  from  the  four  corners  of  the  world, 
of  the  greatest  force  of  civilization  for  good  or  evil,  may  you  discuss  the 
many  and  varied  problems  frankly  and  fairly  and  endeavor  to  come  to  a 
sincere  and  mutual  understanding. 

With  the  world  press  of  the  twentieth  century  united  by  a  bond  of 
common  sympathy  and  a  desire  for  mutual  co-operation,  steadfastly  preach- 
ing truth  and  hopefulness,  many  of  the  threatening  clouds  will  disappear. 
After  all,  men  are  of  the  same  human  flesh  and  blood,  and  only  need  the 
cementing  influence  of  free  and  friendly  intercourse  to  throw  off  the  preju- 
dices and  passions  of  ignorance. 

I  feel  sure  that  the  press  of  all  nations  is  watching  your  deliberations 
with  the  keenest  expectancy  of  beneficial  results  of  the  greatest  magnitude. 
May  it  not  be  disappointed. 


Percy  S.  Bullen,  President  The  Association  of  Foreign  Press  Corrc^ 
spondents,  66  Broadzvay,  Nezv  York  City. 

The  Association  of  Foreign  Press  Correspondents  in  the  United  States, 
comprising  sixty  representatives  of  the  leading  journals  of  Europe,  South 
America,  and  Japan,  desire  me  to  express  tlieir  most  sincere  wishes. for  the 
success  of  your  Congress. 

403 


404       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

We  believe  that  the  delegates  assembled  in  Honolulu  will  have  a  unique 
opportunity  of  promoting  the  best  interests  of  the  press,  and  through  the 
press  rendering  service  to  mankind. 

The  members  of  the  association  had  the  honor  of  entertaining  Colonel 
Lawson,  the  English  delegates,  also  the  American  representatives  to  the 
Conference  from  New  York  and  Brooklyn  on  the  eve  of  their  departure  for 
San  Francisco,  and  entrusted  to  them  personally  the  pleasant  duty  of  con- 
veying to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  a  message  of  fraternal  greet- 
ing and  abundant  good-will. 


Dean  Colin  Dyment,  College  of  Literature,  Science  a)id  the  Arts,  Uni-^ 
versity  of  Oregon,  Eugene,  Oregon. 

May  you  have  every  good  luck,  and  above  all  may  you  get  something 
done! 


Robert  Bell,  ChristchurcJi  Star,  Christchnrch,  Neiv  Zealand. 

I  sincerely  regret  my  inability  to  be  present  with  you  today.  During 
the  intervening  years  since  191.5  I  have  looked  forward  to  attending  the 
sessions  of  the  next  Congress,  and  now  that  the  place  and  date  has  been 
fixed  I  find  that  my  newspaper  and  other  interests  intervene  to  keep  me 
at  home.  Especially  do  I  regret  not  being  able  to  be  present,  because  I 
had  the  privilege  to  be  one  of  those  who  drafted  the  constitution  of  the 
Congress  and  actually  moved  the  resolution  for  its  permanent  establishment. 
But,  if  not  present  in  the  flesh,  believe  me  I  am  with  you  in  spirit  and 
herewith  send  you  my  best  wishes  for  a  happy  and  successful  gathering. 

I  have  no  doubt  tliat  this  great  and  representative  gathering  of  news- 
paper men  from  all  parts  of  the  world — the  men  who  not  only  supply  news 
but  who  form  public  opinion  in  their  respective  countries — will  be  con- 
ducive of  great  good.  The  interchange  of  opinions  and  ideas  on  national 
and  international  questions  must  result  in  better  understanding  of  the 
problems  which  face  the  peoples  of  every  part  of  the  world  of  today. 
Members  of  the  Fourth  Estate  are  charged  with  a  great  responsibility,  for 
the  power  of  the  press  is  a  very  real  factor  for  good  or  ill,  not  only  in 
the  affairs  of  state,  but  in  the  everyday  affairs  of  life.  I  look  forward, 
therefore,  with  great  hope  to  the  benefits  which  will  result  from  the  de- 
liberations of  the  Congress,  not  only  to  the  members  of  the  press  who  at- 
tend, but  to  the  peoples  of  the  countries  whom  they  represent  and  whose 
voice  they  are. 


Director  H.  F.  Harrington,  the  Joseph  Medill  School  of  Journalism, 
Northzvestem   University,  Chicago,  Illinois. 

The  Joseph  Medill  School  of  Journalism  of  Northwestern  University 
sends  hearty  greetings  to  the  delegates  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World 
assembled  in  Honolulu. 

If  sympathetic  understanding  of  the  ideals,  institutions,  and  daily 
life   of   kindred   peoples   is   to   be   established    in   the   world,   it   will   come 


Messages  to  the  Congress  405 

through  the  sharing  of  correct  information,  as  spread  broadcast  by  the 
newspapers  and  periodicals. 

You  editorial  brethren,  who  unleash  the  winged  word  in  many  lands, 
have  in  your  keeping  the  education  of  a  more  intelligent  brLed  of  men  and 
women.  If  you  gentlemen  think  straight,  if  your  sympathies  are  born  of 
adequate  knowledge,  if  you  have  an  abiding  faith  in  the  good  intent  of 
neighboring  peoples,  the  thousands,  who  read  your  publications,  will  also 
come  into  closer  alliance  of  heart  and  mind. 

The  schools  of  journalism  in  the  United  States,  which  have  to  do  with 
the  training  of  tomorrow's  reporters  and  editors,  confidently  believe  that 
your  deliberations  will  cement  still  more  securely  the  bonds  of  mutual 
purpose. 


Eccquicl  V.  Pas,  Director  of  La  Prensa,  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina. 

I  am  very  sorry  indeed  not  to  be  able  to  assist  at  the  meeting  to  be 
held  in  October  at  Honolulu;  this  is  due  to  the  manifold  duties  I  have 
to  comply  with  owing  to  the  direction  and  management  of  this  paper. 
However,  I  sincerely  offer  my  heartfelt  co-operation  and  moral  support  to- 
wards the  useful  finalities  pursued  by  the  Congress. 


Cesar  Riera  Mares,  Spanish  poet,  stenographer,  author,  Barcelona,  Spai)i. 
I  send  a  strong  brotherly  embracement  for  all  companions  of  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World. 


/.  D.  Graham,  Express  and  Star,  W olverhampton,  England. 

The  fact  that  I  am  prevented  from  being  present  at  the  Press  Congress 
in  Honolulu  is  a  source  of  deep  regret,  because  I  realise  the  immense  value 
of  that  assembly  to  all  who  are  engaged  in  journalism.  The  Press  Con- 
gress of  the  World  is  more  than  ever  necessary  at  this  critical  period  in 
history,  when  the  closest  scrutiny  is  being  given  to  every  system  and  to 
the  whole  of  our  international  relationships  in  the  light  of  ideals  which 
are  essential  as  the  motive  force  of  good  government  and  ordered  progress. 

The  first  great  service  and  one  that  ought  to  be  rendered  to  the  world 
in  the  name  of  those  who  nobly  redeemed  it  from  the  menace  of  militarism 
is  the  promotion  of  international  amity,  peace  and  understanding,  the 
fostering  of  conditions  which  will  make  it  easier  for  the  nations  to  work 
in  unison  for  the  betterment  of  the  whole  world.  The  Press  Congress  is 
a  vital  instrument  to  this  great  end. 


L.  A.  Hodoroff,  Russian  journalist,  Moscow. 

The  coming  meeting  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  is  undoubt- 
edly an  event  of  great  importance  and  interest  in  our  world  of  journalism. 
It  is  with  utmost  reluctance  that  I  give  up  my  intention  to  attend  it.  Other- 
wise, I  certainly  would  try  to  fulfill  your  hope  by  preparing  a  speech  on 
"Journalism  in  Russia,"  which  would  give  an  idea  of  what  the  subject  sug- 
gests and  contribute  towards  giving  a  better  understanding  of  the  true  state 
of  affairs  in  this  much  misrepresented  country. 


406      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

R.  Mackenzie,  Proprietor,  Argyllshire  Advertiser,  Lochgilphead,  Scotland. 

I  wish  the  great  Congress  the  loftiest  success  in  every  way  and  that  it 
may  result  in  a  greater  and  nobler  friendship  to  all  concerned  in  the  pros- 
perity and  glory  of  the  world's  press. 


Rario  Ribas  de  Cantruy,  Editor  of  Revista  Renacimiento,  Tegucigalpa, 
Republic  of  Honduras,  Central  America. 

May  I  ask  you  to  be  so  kind  as  to  express  to  the  Press  Congress  my 
deepest  regrets  for  not  being  able  to  be  present  at  Honolulu? 

It  would  have  afforded  me  an  immense  pleasure  to  be  able  to  attend  per- 
sonally the  sessions  of  the  Congress,  first  because  of  the  great  interest  and 
numberless  charms  that  those  poetic  and  hospitable  islands  with  their  un- 
rivaled scenery  offer  to  the  stranger  from  distant  lands ;  and  then  also 
because  of  the  vast  benefits  that  as  a  journalist  I  would  most  assuredly 
have  received  by  coming  into  contact  with  what  I  will  call  "the  brains  of 
the  world," — for  indeed,  a  gathering  of  four  or  five  hundred  of  the  world's 
best  publicists  does  represent  the  brains  of  the  world, —  its  brain  and  its 
heart.  We  cannot  estimate  to  its  full  measure  the  importance  of  the  press, 
as  a  world  institution,  unless  we  try  for  a  moment  to  picture  to  ourselves 
in  this  century  of  light  and  progress,  a  world  without  newspapers,  a  world 
without  printed  news,  without  magazines,  without  press  of  any  kind;  then 
and  only  then,  can  we  slightly  grasp  what  the  press  really  means  to  human- 
kind. 

The  press  can  cause  wars ;  the  press  can  prevent  wars ;  the  best  league 
of  nations  would  be  a  League  of  the  World's  Press  which,  extending  its 
action  beyond  all  frontiers,  and  with  a  fixed  program  in  mind,  would  have 
as  its  chief  aim  the  furtherance  of  human  welfare  and  the  gradually  bring- 
ing about  of  the  real,  effective,  durable  brotherhood  of  men  of  all  na- 
tions and  creeds.  This  is  why  I  am  a  strong  believer  in  gatherings  such 
as  this  where  newspapermen  from  all  countries  come  to  meet  together  to 
discuss  and  exchange  ideas  and  to  strengthen  the  bonds  of  fraternal  cor- 
diality. 

A  great  amount  of  good  would  be  done  to  the  world  if  these  meetings 
could  be  held  together  more  frequently;  and  if,  as  the  most  humble  member 
of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  my  voice  can  have  any  weight,  I 
wish  to  raise  it  here  and  now  to  advocate  a  yearly  meeting  so  tliat  we  may 
once  a  year  come  together  to  further  a  better  understanding  between  the 
peoples  of  the  world.  Thus,  through  our  mutual  effort  displayed  col- 
lectively and  with  the  same  aim  in  view  we  will  work  together  with  en- 
thusiasm and  with  faitli  in  the  performing  of  our  sacred  duty  as  guides  of 
human  thought  and  as  builders  of  international  amity. 


G.  Andreve,  Director-proprietor,  El  Tiempo,  Panama  City,  Panama. 

Owing  to  unfavorable  circumstances  it  will  be  impossible  for  me  to  at- 
tend the  meetings  of  the  Congress.  However  this  does  not  lessen  my  in- 
terest in  its  work  nor  does  it  prevent  me  from  sending  my  friendliest  greet- 


Messages  to  the  Congress  407 

ings  to  all  its  members  and  my  best  wishes  that  they  may  achieve  a  highly 
satisfactory  work  for  the  benefit  of  the  press  interests  of  the  whole  world. 


H.  M.  Richardson,  General  Secretary,  National  Union  of  Journalists, 
18o  Fleet  Street,  London,  B.  C.  4. 

We  trust  that  your  deliberations  will  be  harmonious  and  that,  as  a  re- 
sult of  the  coming  together  of  representatives  of  the  world's  press,  tliere 
will  be  a  greater  coming  together  of  the  nations  of  the  world.  We  are 
quite  sure  that  the  exchange  of  views  at  close  quarters  between  representa- 
tives of  the  newspapers  of  the  different  nationalities  must  lead  to  a  better 
understanding  between  the  different  peoples. 


Miss  Bertha  Gray  Robinson,  Editor,  Observer,  Orange,  Virginia,  U.  S.  A. 

I  feel  a  deep  interest  in  all  the  proceedings  of  the  Congress,  for  I  am 
confident  that  the  deliberations  of  such  a  distinguished  body,  composed  of 
commissioned  delegates  from  every  known  country  of  the  world,  will  re- 
dound to  the  greatest  good  to  any  and  all  of  tlie  countries  therein  repre- 
sented. Though  I  am  not  present  with  you  I  shall  have  the  meeting  in 
mind  and  shall  wish  for  each  and  every  one  not  only  an  important  busi- 
ness session  but  a  delightful  social  gathering. 


Miss  Hedwig  Bott,  421   W.  65th  Place,  Chicago,  Illinois. 
I  sincerely  hope  the  conference  will  prove  an  auspicious  one. 


B.  K.  Gaylord,  President,  Oklahoma  Publishing  Co.,  Oklahoma  City, 
Oklahoma. 

I  earnestly  hope  that  the  Congress  will  be  of  very  great  importance  and 
benefit  to  the  editorial  profession  in  general. 


P.  Selig,  Christchurch  Press,  Christchiirch,  New  Zealand. 
Wishing  you  a  highly  successful  Congress,  which  I  trust  may  be  fraught 
with  the  best  of  results  far-reaching  in  their  effect. 


Jens  K.  Grondahl,  Editor,  Red  Wing  Daily  Republican,  Red  Wing, 
Minnesota. 

It  is  with  deep  regret,  and  because  of  circumstances  over  which  I  have 
no  control,  that  I  am  unable  to  be  present  and  participate  in  the  delibera- 
tions of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  as  a  representative  of  the  Na- 
tional Editorial  Association  and  of  the  State  of  Minnesota.  I  wish  to  ex- 
tend my  fraternal  greetings  to  the  members  of  the  Congress,  with  my  best 
wishes  for  results  that  will  benefit  journalism  and  the  peoples  throughout 
the  earth. 

At  this  critical  time  in  the  world's  history,  when  the  leading  nations  are 
about  to  make  what  seems  an  honest  effort  to  lessen  the  chances  of  war 
and  lessen  the  burdens  of  taxation  by  limiting  armaments  of  war,  the  hour 


408       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

appears  exceedingly  opportune  for  the  journalistic  forces  of  the  world, 
gathered  at  Honolulu,  to  exert  their  tremendous  power,  to  promote  the 
peace  of  the  world  and  the  brotherhood  of  man.  Millions  will  watch  the 
proceedings  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  at  Honolulu  with  the 
same  interest  that  they  will  scan  the  progress  of  the  Conference  for  the 
Limitation  of  Armaments  and  other  world  matters  a  little  later  on  at 
Washington. 


Dr.  Frits  Holm,  14  John  Street,  New  York. 

By  virtue  of  your  united  efforts,  and  under  the  life-giving  sun  of  a 
hospitable  Pacific  archipelago,  you  are  planting  tlie  seed  which  is  still  further 
to  enhance  the  guiding  influence  and  merited  power  of  the  press  in  all  the 
lands  of  the  globe — that  influence  which  is  ours,  however,  only  as  long  as 
we,  as  journalists,  remember,  through  vigilant  observation,  ceaseless  study 
and  struggle,  and  endless  labor  and  toil,  to  serve  nothing  but  the  truth 
as  based  upon  the  facts  before  us  in  each  and  every  individual  case  as  it 
presents  itself.  May  you  all  benefit  by  your  important  conferences  and  by 
your  pleasant  travels,  and  may  the  benefits,  which  you  yourself  glean,  gen- 
erously be  passed  on  to  mankind  that  you  all  serve  in  so  responsible  a 
capacity. 


Richard  Ivens,  Editor,  the  Nottingham  Guardian,  Nottingham,  England. 

I  much  regret  that  it  will  not  be  possible  for  me  to  attend  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World  at  Honolulu.  I  had  made  arrangements  to  attend, 
but  have  been  compelled  to  put  them  on  one  side  at  almost  the  last  moment. 
It  would  have  given  me  intense  pleasure  to  meet  so  many  illustrious  jour- 
nalists, from  so  many  countries,  and  the  fact  that  I  cannot  now  do  so  will 
be  one  of  the  chief  disappointments  of  my  life.  Please  accept  my  best 
wishes  for  the  success  of  the  conference  and  for  the  enjoyment  of  all 
who  are  so  fortunate  as  to  take  part  in  it.  I  have  been  associated  with 
daily  newspapers  for  more  than  fifty  years  and  I  have  been  editor  of  one 
of  them  for  nearly  forty  years.  My  long  experience  in  newspaper 
work  leads  me  to  tliink  that  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  will  be  use- 
ful and  I  herewith  send  my  most  hearty  greetings  to  all  of  you. 


Henry  Wyatt,  Editor,  Blackpool  Times,  14  Clifton  Street,  Blackpool, 
England. 

On  behalf  of  British  weekly  journalism,  I  extend  hearty  greetings  to 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  and  trust  that  its  deliberations  may  be 
happy,  successful  and  serviceable  to  our  common  cause. 


Robert  H.  H.  Baird,  Belfast  Telegraph,  Belfast,  Ireland. 

In  expressing  my  deep  regret  that  I  am  unable  to  attend  the  great 
Press  Congress  of  the  World,  I  desire,  as  an  Ulsterman,  to  extend  through 
you  cordial  greetings  to  all  my  colleagues  of  the  press,  and  to  express  the 
hope  that  the  Congress  will  prove  one  of  the  greatest  levers  in  the  ad- 
vancement of  civilization  and  progress. 


Messages  to  the  Congress  409 

Your  world-wide  gathering  at  Honolulu  is  unique  in  the  history  of 
newspapers.  By  bringing  together  newspaper  producers  from  every  clime, 
it  is  sure  to  prove  an  inspiration  and  an  incentive  to  literary  and  me- 
chanical achievements  hitherto  undreamt  of. 

All  nations  and  languages  have,  through  the  conquering  attainments  of 
modern  science,  a  common  bond  of  union  in  the  newspaper  press,  and 
I  know  of  no  league  so  likely  to  bring  about  that  universal  peace  for  which 
the  world  is  yearning. 

Your  great  gathering  may  indeed  be  called  the  "Pacific"  Congress.  Its 
aspirations,  resolutions,  and  achievements  will  emanate,  as  a  great  wireless 
from  the  Punch  Bowl,  in  every  direction,  and  reach  the  remotest  journal- 
istic outpost  of  the  two  hemispheres,  giving  encouragement  to  all  who 
are  engaged  in  our  noble  profession. 

I  have  no  doubt  that  the  Congress  will  ultimately  realise  the  dream  of 
the  poet  in  establishing  itself  as  "The  Parliament  of  Man,  the  Federation 
of  the  world." 


Major  Alexander  Steven,  Director,  Northumberland  and  Benvickshire 
Newspapers,  Limited,  Berzvick-upon-Tivecd,   England. 

The  Congress  will  be  a  great  success,  to  the  advantage  of  the  world. 


B.  O.  Norton,  Secretary,  the  Weekly  Neivspaper  and  Periodical  Pro- 
prietors' Association,  Limited,  Fleet  Street,  London,  B.  C.  4,  Bngland. 

The  Council  of  the  Weekly  Newspaper  and  Periodical  Proprietors'  As- 
sociation much  regret  their  inability  to  send  a  representative  to  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World,  which  is  being  held  in  Honolulu  in  October  next, 
but  hope  to  be  more  fortunate  on  the  next  occasion. 

As  the  association,  therefore,  will  not  have  the  advantage  of  being 
directly  represented,  the  council  desire  to  send  their  best  wishes  for  the 
success  of  the  Congress.  They  fully  appreciate  the  vast  importance  of 
the  objects  in  view,  and  are  strongly  in  favor  of  conferences  of  this 
sort,  which  tend  to  promote  international  good  feeling. 


Morley  Stuart,  Cambridge  Daily  Neivs,  Cambridge,  England. 

Aloha ! 

I  feel  that  I  must  respond  to  your  invitation  to  send  a  word  of  greeting 
to  my  brethren  of  the  press  gathered  at  the  great  Press  Congress  of  the 
World.  I  have  heard  much  of  the  hospitality  of  Honolulu  and  should 
dearly  like  to  share  it  with  you,  but  it  is  a  long  journey  from  England  and 
considerations  of  time  and  money  prevent  my  coming.  It  would  be  a 
particular  joy  to  me  to  pass  through  the  great  Republic  of  America  and 
thus  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  my  father,  himself  a  journalist,  who  ever 
retained  the  happiest  recollections  of  a  lecturing  tour  in  1887. 

Need  I  say  that  I  shall  read  with  deep  interest  of  your  meetings  and 
that  I  sincerely  hope  that  your  deliberations  will  make  for  the  good  of 
the  great  profession  to  which  we  are  all  so  proud  to  belong. 


410      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

It  is  a  splendid  idea  to  link  together  in  this  way  the  press  of  the  world 
and  some  day  I  hope  we  may  have  the  pleasure  of  welcoming  the  Con- 
gress to  England.  Should  that  happy  event  come  to  pass  I  hope  that  it 
may  be  possible  to  spare  one  day  for  a  visit  to  the  great  University  of 
Cambridge,  in  which  case  I  shall  be  happy  to  do  everything  in  my  power  to 
ensure  you  the  heartiest  of  welcomes. 

Across  the  Atlantic  and  the  Pacific  I  extend  the  right  hand  of  fellow- 
ship and  wish  you  well. 


Mrs.  R.  W.  Gough,  Corresponding  Secretary,  Southern  California 
Women's  Press  Club,  Los  Angeles,  California. 

I  greet  you,  and  express  sincerest  regret  over  my  inability  to  meet  with 
you  and  share  the  pleasure  and  profit  of  your  association.  May  you  all 
realize  in  fullest  measure  the  privileges  afforded  by  this  international  com- 
mingling of  ideas  and  infusion  of  thought  and  may  you  register  splendid 
progress  in  the  press  attainments  of  all  people. 


David  Beecroft,  Director  Editor,  The  Class  Journal  Company,  239  West 
39th  St.,  New  York  City. 

We  know  nothing  more  necessary  than  that  the  press  of  the  world, 
including  the  business  or  industrial  press,  work  in  the  closest  co-operation. 

Speaking  for  the  business  press  we  feel  that  it  is  more  essential  than 
ever  that  those  directing  it  are  familiar  with  not  only  all  of  the  countries 
of  the  world  but  many  of  the  industrial  problems  in  each. 

The  business  press  must  take  a  stronger  place  in  foreign  trade,  as  well 
as  in  other  matters  of  world  importance.  Conferences  such  as  yours  draw 
attention  to  the  obligations  that  rest  upon  the  press.  A  better  acquaintance 
among  the  personnel  and  a  more  mutual  understanding  of  objectives  will 
always  work  for  the  betterment  of  world  conditions. 


John  Kaiser,  Managing  Editor,  Register-Leader,  Marietta,   Ohio. 

If  the  world  is  ever  to  be  restored  to  its  former  conditions,  a  large 
factor  in  such  restoration  will  be  the  press  of  the  world.  Upon  your  de- 
liberations at  beautiful  Honolulu  will  depend  to  a  great  extent  what  the 
world  is  to  be  for  the  next  decade.  The  underlying  structure  of  the  world 
press  has  ever  been  that  of  service  to  humanity,  and  I  am  sure  that  the 
newspaper  men  of  today  are  alert  not  only  to  their  duties  but  to  their  op- 
portunities. 


Benjamin  J.  Fisher,  Editor,  Eastern  Shore  Herald,  Eastville,  Virginia. 

Out  of  this  session  of  tlie  Press  Congress  I  hope  for  large  results  to 
the  press  of  the  world.  While  the  Eastern  Shore  Herald  is  a  small  country 
paper,  j^et  we  are  trying  to  do  our  part  in  moulding  public  opinion  on  the 
great  questions  of  the  day.  I  bid  you  and  all  the  members  of  the  Congress 
Godspeed  in  your  work. 


Messages  to  the  Congress  411 

Professor  Bristoiv  Adams,  Nciv  York  State  College  of  Agriculture, 
Cornell  University,  Ithaca,  Netv  York. 

Those  of  us  at  Cornell  who  are  interested  in  high  standards  of  journal- 
ism wish  for  the  Congress  every  success  and  feel  sure  that  it  will  mark 
an  important  step  in  developing  a  world  solidarity  among  journalists. 


Benjamin  S.  Herbert,  President,  Illinois  Press  Association,  Chicago, 
Illinois. 

Greetings  from  Illinois !  Several  representatives  from  Illinois,  in  which 
nearly  a  thousand  newspapers  are  published,  will  attend  the  Press  Con- 
gress at  Honolulu.  The  Illinois  Press  Association,  representing  more  than 
half  the  newspapers  in  Illinois,  are  of  one  accord  that  this  great  gathering 
of  master  minds  will  work  out  policies  and  establish  thought  along  lines  of 
advancement  which  will  have  a  great  influence  in  directing  the  destinies  of 
nations.  The  country  press  of  this  state  stood  whole-heartedly  behind 
the  Government  during  the  war  and  the  editors  and  publishers  are  lending 
their  energy  in  promotion  of  reconstruction.  Any  decision  reached  by  the 
Press  Congress  of  the  World  will  have  the  most  respectful  consideration 
of  the  Illinois  Press  Association. 


/.  H.  McKeever,  President,  Aberdeen  American  and  Nezvs,  Aberdeen, 
South  Dakota. 

From  the  prairies  of  South  Dakota  I  send  my  greeting  to  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World  and  with  it  my  regrets  that  I  shall  be  unable  to 
attend. 

In  this  period  when  all  nations  are  devoted  to  binding  up  the  wounds 
of  the  world,  I  conceive  that  the  press  is  destined  to  be  a  great  factor  in 
spreading  among  them  a  closer  acquaintance  and  more  intimate  knowledge 
which  must  prevail  as  a  constant  and  perpetual  insurance  against  disagree- 
ment and  strife. 

To  tliat  end,  the  session  of  the  Press  Congress  in  which  you  are  sitting 
has  a  magnificant  destiny,  and  it  is  my  sincere  regret  that  I  am  not  per- 
sonally to  be  there  to  share  in  the  proceedings. 


0.  S.  Freeman,  President,  Connecticut  Editorial  Association,  Watcr- 
toivn,  Connecticut. 

Hearty  greetings  from  the   Connecticut  Editorial   Association. 

May  the  deliberations  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  result  in 
helpfulness  and  inspiration  to  the  thousands  of  men  and  women  workers  m 
the  most  helpful  profession  on  earth. 


Will  E.  and  Charles  H.  Beeson,  the  Winchester  Journal,  Winchester, 
Indiana. 

Our  regrets  in  being  unable  to  attend  your  sessions  are  only  ex- 
ceeded by  the  good  times  we  know  you  are  having  as  the  guests  of 
the  Hawaiian  people.  We  are  sure  that  your  hosts  are  meeting  every 
anticipation   of  their  guests- 


412       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Besides  the  pleasures  of  the  trip  you  doubtless  are  enjoying  the 
satisfaction  of  realizing  that  as  individuals  and  as  an  organization  you 
are  performing  a  service  not  only  to  the  present  generation  but  to 
unborn   generations. 

There  is,  "wt  believe,  no  power  so  well  fitted  to  cement  the  nations 
of  the  world  as  the  newspapers,  and  a  personal  acquaintance  among 
newspaper  makers  of  the  various  nations  will  not  only  be  a  social 
privilege  but  a  strong  factor  in  the  betterment  of  the  world. 

It  is  claimed,  and  possibly  rightly,  that  if  the  National  Editorial 
Association  had  been  in  existence  in  the  fifties  and  early  sixties  of  the 
century  just  past  there  would  have  been  no  civil  war  in  the  United 
States,  and  it  is  our  belief  that  if  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  had 
been  functioning  there  would  have  been  no  World  War. 

With  this  belief  and  with  eyes  to  the  future  we  wish  Godspeed  in  your 
deliberations. 


Ernest  J.  P.  Bcnn,  Bcnn  Brothers,  Limited,  8  Bouverie  Street,  London, 
E.  C.  4,  England. 

I  hope  that  any  of  my  colleagues  of  the  business  press  who  are 
able  to  be  present  will  be  able  to  secure  a  good  large  share  of  the 
time  of  the  Congress  because  it  seems  to  me  that  they  have  a  special 
duty  to  talk  and  a  special  right  to  be  heard  at  this  most  interesting 
crisis  in  the  world's  history. 

Stated  very  simply,  the  broad  fact  is  that  the  field  of  industry,  busi- 
ness, commerce,  call  it  what  you  like  has,  for  good  or  ill,  been  invaded 
by  the  politicians.  This  means  that  the  political  and  popular  journalist 
is  called  upon  to  deal  much  more  fully  and  deeply  with  business  ques- 
tions than  has  ever  been  the  case  before.  The  natural  tendency  of 
the  journalist  is  to  take  his  cue  from  the  man  who  shouts  loudest. 
That  is  one  of  the  inherent  and  necessary  weaknesses  of  journalism. 
In  connection  with  current  problems  it  means  that  our  newspapers  are 
liable  to  give  undue  emphasis  to  the  irresponsible  and  uninspired  ut- 
terances of  people  who  know  little  or  nothing  of  real  business,  and  that 
the  views  of  the  practical  men,  always  and  obviously  lacking  in  sen- 
sation, are  denied  the  prominence  which  is  their  due. 

Therefore,  if  at  Honolulu  the  trade  journalists  feel  inclined  to  talk, 
be  lenient  with  them,  apply  your  genius  to  the  dry-as-dust,  matter- 
of-fact,  unpalatable  truths  in  which  they  are  specialists,  and  thus  your 
conference  might  arrive  at  a  new  and  beneficent  discovery,  and  bring 
sensationalism  to  the   service  of  sense. 

Yours  for  the  revolution — the  real  revolution  which  makes  the 
wheels  go  round. 


Douglas  C.  Leng,  Director,  Sheffield  Telegraph,  Sheffield,  England. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  the  moulding  of  the  future  of  human- 
ity lies  in  the  hands  of  the  pressmen  gathered  together  at  Honolulu. 
May      a     beneficent     Providence    guide    their    deliberations    and    ensure 


Messages  to  the  Congress  413 

through  the  medium  of  the  printing  press  peace  on  earth  and  a  better 
understanding  between  mankind.  Let  the  two  great  English-speak- 
ing nations  in  particular  remember  that  their  responsibility  is  para- 
mount if  the  progress  of  the  race  is  to  continue,  and  let  the  primary 
object  of  the  newspaper  man  be  to  ensure  on  both  sides  of  the  Atlantic 
that  the  peoples  raise  themselves  to  the  height  of  it. 


Clement  Shorter,  Editor  and  Director,   The   Sphere,   London,  England. 

I  greatly  regret  that  it  is  not  possible  for  me  to  accept  your  kind 
invitation  to  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  at  Honolulu.  I  send, 
however,  very  cordial  greetings  and  rejoice  in  the  brotherhood  of  jour- 
nalism that  such  a  gathering  implies.  I  believe  with  all  my  heart, 
in  spite  of  the  tragic  conditions  of  the  past  sad  years,  that  the  world 
can  be  mended  and  ennobled  only  through  sympathy  and  understand- 
ing and  that  these  qualities  can  only  be  commanded  through  the  medium 
of  newspapers  with  their  millions  of  readers.  Goethe  dreamed  that  a 
World  Literature  would  make  for  peace  among  the  nations.  It  was 
an  idle  dream.  Literature  from  Homer  to  Rudyard  Kipling  has  tended 
rather  to  war  than  to  peace,  has  thrown  a  false  glamour  over  force 
as  a  ruler  of  the  world.  It  remains  for  journalism,  with  its  myriads 
of  preachers  in  every  land,  to  strive  for  that  happy  harmony  among 
the  peoples  of  the  earth  for  which  we  all  long.  I  can  see  no  solution 
of  the  problems  which  beset  the  nations  if  one  cannot  be  found  in 
such  a  Congress  of  the  World's  Press  as  that  assembled  at  Honolulu 
of  which  I  would  give  much  to  be  an  humble  member. 


The  Rei'.  J.  G.  Digges,  Editor,  Irish  Bee  Journal  and  Beekeepers'  Ga-> 
zettc.  Lough  Rynn,  R.  S.  A.,  Ireland. 

I  wish  for  the  Congress  unbounded  success.  Permit  me  to  send 
herewith  sincere  greetings  to  all  concerned. 

O.  S.  Bailey,  Editor,  Waiikon  Republican  and  Standard,  Waukon,  lozva. 
With   profound  regret   at  my   inability   to   attend   this,   the   greatest 
meeting  of  public  men  of  the  age,  I  tender  greetings  to  all. 


L.    J.    Berry,   Secretary,    The   Nezvspapcr    Proprietors'    Association    of 
Nezv  Zealand,  Inc.,  Wellington,  New  Zealand. 

Best  wishes  for  profitable  sessions  and  enjoyable  entertainments. 


Dietrick  Lamade,  President  and  General  Manager,  Grit  Publishing 
Company,  Willianisport,  Pennsylvania. 

I  can  conceive  of  no  movement  of  more  profound  significance  to 
journaHsm  and,  through  it,  to  the  world,  than  the  convention  of  the 
Press  Congress  of  the  World. 

Language  is  the  instrument  of  the  individual — the  newspaper  is 
the  voice  of  the  multitude.  If,  then,  through  exchange  of  thought  and 
development  of  higher  common  ideals  the  dominating  minds  of  news- 


414       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

papers  of  the  world  may  unite  in  common  cause,  we  may  hope,  through 
proper  direction  of  public  opinion,  to  unite  our  constituents,  regardless 
of  race,  color  or  creed,  in  bonds  of  world  wide  peace  and  brotherly 
love. 

I  look  for  excellent  results  to  come  from  this  meeting  and  hope  it 
will  lead  to  a  thorough  organization  of  the  press  of  the  world  to  the 
end  that  journalism  may  fulfill  to  the  highest  degree  the  service  for 
which  so  much  opportunity  exists. 


Gits  J.  Kargcr,  Washington  Bureau,  Cincinnati  Times-Star,  61  Post 
Building,  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  session  of  Congress  and  the  coming  gathering  of  representa- 
tives of  great  nations  to  discuss  Far  Eastern  problems  and  devise 
measures  to  put  a  period  to  rivalries  that  lead  to  w^ar  make  it  in- 
expedient, to  my  sorrow,  to  join  you  at  the  Honolulu  Congress.  I 
can  send  no  message  to  that  assemblage  that  will  not  appear  trite  and 
commonplace  beside  the  messages  your  speakers  will  deliver.  But  I 
W'ould  stress  this  point:  We  of  the  Fourth  Estate  are  the  men  and 
w^omen  on  the  side  lines  and  our  part  in  the  proceedings  is  to  enforce 
the  rules  of  fair  play — fair  play  to  the  public  by  the  players,  and  fair 
play  to  the  players  by  the  public.  We  live  in  an  era  of  great  move- 
ments and  we  must  help  to  give  them  the  proper  direction  as  far  as 
in  our  power  lies.  The  Press  Congress  of  the  World  may  make  of 
itself  a  strong  instrument  toward  that  end. 


Arthur  R.  Holbrook,  Portsmouth  Times,  19  Porchester  Square,  W.  2, 
England. 

Will  you  please  convey  my  respects  and  my  apologies  for  absence. 
This  Congress  will,  I  feel  confident,  have  world-wide  influence  in 
promoting  peace  and  progress  throughout  the  world. 


M.  C.  Modi,  Hon.  Secretary,  the  Press  Association  of  India,  Bombay, 
India. 

I  am  sorry  that  due  to  pressing  engagements  and  the  pending  of  an 
important  question  of  the  removal  of  the  blackest  Indian  press  legisla- 
tion, I  shall  be  unable  to  leave  India  to  attend  the  Press  Congress  in 
October  next.  The  journalists  and  the  press  of  India  will  watch  with 
deep  interest  the  proceedings  of  your  Congress  for  the  betterment  of 
the  present  standard  of  their  work  in  all  lines  connected  with  their 
profession. 

It  is  needless  to  say  that  the  liberty  of  the  press  is  the  essential 
thing  and  for  a  country  like  ours  it  is  to  be  first  taken  into  consideration. 
The  Indian  Press  Act  of  1910  is  a  standing  menace  to  our  liberty  and 
progress.  Our  strong  agitation  since  its  enactment  for  its  removal 
both  in  form  and  spirit,  from  the  statute  book  had  been  ignored  by 
the  government  of  India  till  now.  However,  there  is  a  ray  of  hope  now. 
In  its  next  session  of  tlie  Indian  Council,  a  report  of  the  Press  Laws  Inquiry 


Messages  to  the  Congress  415 

Committee  will  very  likely  be  discussed  and  my  association  looks  to 
you  for  your  support  in  our  achieving  the  said  object,  viz.,  entire  re- 
moval of  the  act  and  restoring  the  press  its  freedom. 

Yours  being  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  my  association 
thinks  it  shall  be  befitting  if  the  Congress  will  also  handle  this  ques- 
tion and  urge  the  Government  of  India,  in  the  name  of  the  press,  to 
repeal  all  obnoxious  press  legislation  as  soon  as  possible. 

Before  concluding,  my  association  wishes  you  all  success  and  has  its 
entire  sympathy  and  support  with  your  aim  and  objects. 


Hans  Den  Wcisz,  Volksaeitiing,  St.  Paul,  Minnesota. 

I  congratulate  you  on  your  work.  What  we  need  most  is  the  old 
time  spirit  of  confidence.  The  newspaper  man,  as  no  other,  has  the 
opportunity  to  develop  in  his  country  optimism,  hope,  and  faith.  Regret 
cannot  be  with  you.     Godspeed  to  the  Press  Congress. 


Henry  Stead,  Stead's  Review,  Melbourne,  Australia. 

With  best  wishes  for  a  most   successful  and   resultful   conference. 


Pred  Johnston,  Herald,  Palkirk,  Scotland. 
Heartiest  greetings;  regret  absence. 


W.  T.  Brewster^  Independent  Nezvspapers,  Ltd.,  Dublin,  Ireland. 
Greetings  from  press  of  Ireland  and  heartiest  wishes  for  success. 


President,   Dutch  Association  of  Joiirnalists,  Scheveningcn,  Holland. 
Editors  associations   Holland  wishes   congress  all    hail   for  interna- 
tional brotherhood's  sake. 


Igglesden,  Kentish  Express,  Ashford,  Kent,  England. 
Hearty  good  wishes  from  reluctantly  absent  member. 


Ernest   P.   Birmingham,   Editor,    The   Pourth   Estate,   Neiv    York    City. 

Much  regret  my  inability  to  be  with  you.  Please  convey  to  Gover- 
nor Farrington  and  members  of  Congress  the  Fourth  Estate's  con- 
gratulations and  our  belief  that  your  meeting  will  prove  historic  in 
strengthening  the  relations  between  the  press  of  all  nations  which, 
although  always  cordial,  are  not  sufficiently  co-ordinated  to  demon- 
strate its  full  power  and  influence  on  the  world's  progress.  I  am 
certain  that  the  interchange  of  thought  on  the  practical  problems  of 
newspaper  publishing  will  broaden  editorial  vision  and  help  materially 
in  framing  policies  dealing  with  the  momentous  questions  now  before 
the  world's  leaders,  outstanding  among  whom  is  our  own  President 
Harding,  himself  a  man  of  life  long  training  in  the  profession  of 
journalism. 


416      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

John  Dyynond,  Past  President,  National  Editorial  Association;  Editor, 
Louisiana  Planter  and  Sugar  Manufacturer ;  Editor,  El  Mundo  Acucarero, 
New  Orleans,  Louisiana. 

The  Louisiana  Press  Association  in  annual  session  authorized  me 
to  convey  to  you  the  good  wishes  of  all  the  editors  of  Louisiana  with 
the  hope  that  your  session  will  be  full  of  intellectual  enjoyment  and 
mark  an  advance  in  the  newspaper  status  of  the  whole  world. 


Prof.  Joseph  S.  Myers,  Department  of  Journalism,  Ohio  State  Uni- 
versity, Columbus,  Ohio. 

World  journalism  will  benefit  profoundly  as  a  result  of  this  and 
succeeding  Congresses,  and  what  makes  for  the  betterment  of  the 
newspapers  and  their  editors  is  also  inevitably  for  the  advancement 
of  all  society. 


Aaron  Watson,  Bcu'ley  Cottage,  Lacock,  Wiltshire,  England. 

It  would  have  been  delightful  to  me  to  meet  the  representatives  of 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  at  Honolulu  but  as  there  are  circum- 
stances which  make  it  impossible  for  me  to  be  present,  it  is  a  satis- 
faction to  me  to  believe  that  I  have  been  of  service  to  those  who  have 
brought  about  so  remarkable  an  event,  and  to  think  that  the  meeting 
must  have  beneficial  results  not  only  in  promoting  acquaintanceship 
among  some  of  the  leading  journalists  of  the  world — a  good  end  in 
itself — but  in  extending  public  recognition  of  the  common  purpose 
and  the  high  mission  of  journalism. 

The  Press  Congress  of  the  World  is,  in  its  own  way,  a  league  of 
nations.  The  world's  press  has  an  enormous,  perhaps  an  excessive, 
power  of  promoting  the  same  ends,  or  of  impeding  them.  Those  of 
us  who  have  had  a  share  in  the  work  that  has  preceded  the  Honolulu 
Congress  have  had  our  visions  of  a  world's  press  so  far  united  in 
feeling  and  in  purpose  as  to  be  undeviatingly  on  the  side  of  the  world's 
highest   interests  and  aspirations.     So,   indeed,   may   it   be. 


Andrea  Ferretti,  Ilby  Card,  Borga,  Finland. 

I  shall  always  be  very  much  pleased  to  keep  in  touch  with  you 
and  be  informed  about  the  further  enhancement  of  the  association  to 
which  I  ask  you  kindly  to  interpret  my  sentiments  of  greeting. 


John  A.  Park,  Publisher,  Raleigh  Times,  Raleigh,  North  Carolina. 

I  feel  sure  the  sessions  will  be  of  unusual  interest  to  every  member 
attending,  and  I  know  the  splendid  tours  will  be  worth  all  the  in- 
convenience and  long  journej'^  on  the  part  of  each  attendant. 


General  J.  C.  Smuts,  Premier,  South  Africa,  London,  England. 
The  purpose  of  the  Congress  sets  a  high  ideal  and  my  sincerest  wish 
is   that  the   deliberations   will    strengthen   the   desire  and   the   passion   for 


Messages  to  the  Congress  417 

public   service  and  uplifting  of   humanity,   which  is   the   real  end  not  only 
of  the  press  but  also  of  all  true  statesmanship. 


W.  Adamson  MacCallumy,  Superintendent  and  Manager,  Drmnviond's 
Tract  Society,  Stirling,  Scotland. 

I  trust  that  the  meeting  will  be  a  great  success.  When  so  many  men 
representative  of  the  world's  press  meet  together  to  confer  there  is  bound 
to  be  a  great  gain  for  the  universal  interests  of  humanity.  The  world  is 
ultimately  ruled  by  reason  and  by  ideas  and  the  world's  editors  by  con- 
tinual reiteration  of  ideas  can  exert  an  incalculable  influence  in  bringing 
forward  the  time  when  humanity  as  a  whole  will  not  only  believe  all 
these  ideas  but  will  act  upon  them. 

Will  you  express  to  the  Congress  my  personal  regret  at  my  inability 
to  be  present,  as  also  my  genuine  and  sincere  desire  that  this  meeting  may 
be  the  prelude  to  a  new  era  in  the  world's  pilgrimage  towards  peace. 


S.  G.  Jarman,  J.  P.,  the  North  Wales  Guardian,  Argyle  Street,  Wrex- 
liam,  England. 

I  hope  your  gatherings  will  be  a  glorious  success. 


United  Chambers  of  Commerce,  United  Educational  Associations,  United 
Bankers  Association  of  China. 

Pray  accept  our  hearty  congratulations  for  successful  holding  of  second 
sessions  and  our  appreciation  of  collective  efforts  made  by  pressmen  of  the 
world  for  international  goodwill.  May  we  have  the  honor  of  inviting  the 
Congress  to  hold  the  next  session  in  China  ? 


Dong-a  Daily,  Seoul,  Korea. 
Wish  Congress  great  success. 


Natal  IVifness,  Pietermaritzburg,  South  Africa. 

Express  our  regret  unable  attend  fraternal  greeting  Best  wishes  success 
Congress. 


Rafael  Alducin,  Excelsior,  Mexico  City,  Mexico. 

Unable  attend  Congress  I  wish  to  convey  to  all  delegates  assembled  my 
best  wishes  for  complete  success  and  my  innermost  desire  that  collective  co- 
operation will  result  in  improvements,  interchange  of  world's  news  and 
stronger  friendly  and  uplifting  spirit  amongst  great  newspaper  fraternity. 


Messages  of  grceling  were  also  received  from  the  foUoiviug : 
Conrado  Sanchez,  Santo  Domingo,  Dominican  Republic. 
Josephus  Daniels,  the  News  and  Observer,  Raleigh,  North  Carolina. 
Mihran   Nacachian,    Director    and     Proprietor,     Sabah,     Constantinople, 
Turkey.  • 

Juan  Guillermo  Mendoza,  Director  Administrator,  Notas,  Venezuela. 
L.  O.  Trigg,  Editor,  Eldorado  Daily  Journal,  Eldorado,  Illinois. 


418       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 


William  Grant,  Stornoway  Gazette,  Stornoway,  Scotland. 

J.  E.  Dertinger,  Editor  and  Publisher,  the  Bushnell  Record,  Bushnell, 
Illinois. 

Chief  Director,  the  African  Bureau  of  Information,  Monrovia,  Liberia, 
West  Africa. 

Randolph  Bedford,  Brisbane,  Queensland,  Australia. 

Vertanes  Mardigian,  Djagadmart,  Constantinople,  Turkey. 

Fermin  Manzanares,  Duaca,  Venezuela,  South  America. 

Camille  Devilar,  Corresponding  Secretary,  Association  of  the  French 
Colonial  Press,  132  Avenue  d'Orleans,  Paris,  France. 

Arturo  Alessandri,  Santiago,  Chile. 

W.  Arthur  Wilson,  Editor,  The  Malaya  Tribune,  Singapore,  Straits 
Settlement. 

Leonard  W.  Matters,  Herald,  Buenos  Aires,  Argentina,  South  America. 

Hugh  Curran,  Irish  Times,  Dublin,  Ireland. 

Walter  Makepeace,  Singapore  Free  Press,  Singapore,  Straits  Settlement. 

John  Clyde  Oswald,  Editor,  American  Printer,  New  York  City. 

Korean  Independence  News,  Shanghai. 

Salvado  Canals,  Madrid,  Spain. 

Toundokyo  Magazine,  Keijyo,  Korea. 

Kaibyuk  Magazine,  Keijyo,  Korea. 


VI. 
PAN-PACIFIC  PRESS  CONFERENCE. 

The  first  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,  a  regional  section  of 
the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  was  held  under  the  auspices  of 
the  Pan-Pacific  Union  and  called  by  Dr.  Walter  Williams,  Presi- 
dent of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  in  Honolulu,  October 
21,  1921. 

Dr.  Williams  was  Honorary  Chairman  of  the  Conference. 
Alexander  Hume  Ford,  editor  of  the  Mid-Pacific  Magazine,  was 
chairman  of  the  Conference  program;  Mrs.  F.  M.  Swanzy,  chair- 
man of  the  entertainment  program ;  Dr.  Frank  F.  Bunker,  secre- 
tary of  the  Conference;  M.  Zumoto,  chairman  of  the  morning 
session;  V.  S.  McClatchy,  secretary  of  the  morning  session;  FIol- 
lington  K.  Tong,  chairman  of  the  afternoon  session,  and  Hon. 
Mark  Cohen,  secretary  of  the  afternoon  session. 

Lorrin  A.  Thurston,  proprietor  of  the  Honolulu  Advertiser, 
was  elected  President  of  the  permanent  Pan-Pacific  Press  Con- 
ference. Dr.  Frank  F.  Bunker,  executive  secretary  of  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Union,  was  elected  Secretary  of  the  Conference,  and  Y. 
Soga,  editor  of  Nippu  Jiji,  Honolulu,  was  elected  as  third  mem- 
ber of  the  executive  committee  of  the  Conference. 

At  nine  o'clock  on  the  morning  of  October  21,  1921,  Hon. 
Wallace  R.  Farrington,  Governor-of  Hawaii,  as  President  of  the 
Pan-Pacific  Union,  met  with  the  Admiral  of  the  U.  S.  Navy,  the 
General  of  the  U.  S.  Army,  and  the  trustees  of  the  Pan-Pacific 
Union  on  the  steps  of  the  Capitol  Building  to  receive  the  dele- 
gates to  the  first  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,  and  with  them  to 
review  the  pageant  of  the  states  and  countries  of  the  Pacific,  com- 
prising children  of  each  state  and  country  who  presented  the  flag 
of  each. 

There  were  fifty  groups  of  children  from  the  states  and  terri- 
tories of  the  United  States,  each  marching  behind  the  state  flag, 
each  in  the  colors  bearing  the  floral  emblem  of  his  state.    These 

419 


420      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

were  led  by  a  detachment  from  the  Army  carrying  the  national 
colors. 

The  groups  from  Pacific  lands  in  their  national  dress  were 
headed  by  a  detachment  from  the  United  States  Navy,  carrying 
the  colors,  and  concluding  with  the  Filipino  section  escorting  an 
historic  silken  flag  of  the  Philippines  which  was  presented  to 
Governor  Farrington  as  head  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union. 

At  the  conclusion  of  the  pageant.  Governor  Farrington  led  the 
way  into  the  throne  room  of  the  old  lolani  Palace  of  the  ancient 
Hawaiian  monarchy,  now  the  Executive  Building  of  the  Territory. 

After  a  brief  address  of  welcome.  Governor  Farrington  intro- 
duced a  distinguished  visitor,  Hon.  S.  T,  Wen,  Commissioner  of 
Foreign  Affairs,  Nanking,  China,  who  was  on  his  way  to  the 
Washington  Conference  on  Limitation  of  Armament. 

Governor  Farrington  then  turned  the  meeting  over  to  the 
chairman  of  the  Executive  Committee  having  the  program  for 
the  day  in  hand,  Mr.  Alexander  Hume  Ford. 

Dr.  Walter  Williams,  President  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World,  in  behalf  of  the  Congress,  expressed  appreciation  to  the 
Pan-Pacific  Union  for  permitting  the  organization  of  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Press  Conference  in  Honolulu.  In  his  belief  the  object 
of  the  Pan-Pacific  Conference  should  be  "to  permit  each  of  the 
Pan-Pacific  peoples  and  nationalities  to  grow  to  the  fullest  extent 
of  their  own  individual  grace  and  beauty  and  power  without  in- 
terfering in  any  way  with  the  growth  and  the  beauty  and  grace 
and  the  power  of  the  other  nations  and  peoples  represented  in  the 
Pan-Pacific  lands.  Just  as  the  individuals  in  a  community  are  en- 
couraged to  make  the  most  of  themselves,  so  long  as  the  making 
of  the  most  of  themselves  permits  others  to  make  the  most  of 
themselves,  so  each  community  reaches  its  highest  results." 

Hon.  J.  H.  Kessell,  former  member  of  Parliament,  Queens- 
land, and  Mayor  of  the  city  of  Gladstone,  Queensland,  brought 
greetings  to  the  Conference  from  Australia. 

In  selecting  addresses  for  publication  here,  the  editor  has 
chosen  those  especially  concerning  the  practical  problems  con- 
fronting the  press  of  the  Pacific. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         421 


WHY  A  PERMANENT  PAN-PACIFIC  CONFERENCE 

BODY 


By  Ai^ExANDER  Hume  Ford, 
Director,  Pan-Pacific  Union. 

There  is  need,  as  never  before,  that  the  gatherers  and  dissemi- 
nators of  news  in  Pacific  lands  come  to  a  better  knowledge  of 
each  other  and  each  other's  land  and  problems. 

The  Australian  journalist  knows  little  of  Japan,  the  Ameri- 
can journalist  is  confused  by  the  reams  of  paid-for  press  propa- 
ganda that  deluges  him  from  the  Orient,  the  Japanese  press  takes 
seriously  the  utterances  of  the  American  jingo  journalist  and 
tries  to  out-jingo  him.  The  Latin- American  press  is  fairly  well 
served  so  far  as  her  northern  neighbor  is  concerned,  but  little  in 
other  Pacific  lands  is  known  concerning  the  affairs  of  the  great 
South  American  continent. 

The  result  of  all  this  neglect  of  understanding  is  that  Pacific 
lands  are  steering  straight  for  the  shoals  of  chronic  misunder- 
standing and  worse.  Unfortunately  the  great  news  distributing 
bodies  of  Europe  and  America  play  an  influential  part  in  the  keep- 
ing up  of  Pan-Pacific  misunderstanding.  They  control,  largely, 
the  dissemination  of  world  news  to  and  between  Pacific  lands, 
and,  because  of  their  contracts,  entered  into  long  ago,  when  news 
dissemination  methods  depended  on  now  antiquiated  methods 
make  it  practically  impossible  for  the  press  of  the  Pacific  to  secure 
cheap  and  abundant  news  service  to  which  the  invention  of  the 
wireless  entitles  it. 

To  illustrate,  the  delegates  from  Australasia  to  this  Conference 
up  to  the  day  before  their  arrival  in  Honolulu,  could  send  wireless 
messages  to  Australia  and  New  Zealand  for  fourteen  cents  a 
word ;  the  moment  they  landed,  however,  they  were  shut  off  from 
wireless  communication  with  Australia  and  must  resort  to  cable 
rates  at  83  cents  a  word.  Surely  Australia  and  New  Zealand 
should  be  urged  by  this  Conference  to  find  immediately  some 
means  of  opening  their  wireless  stations  to  the  reception  of  press 
and  commercial  messages  from  Pacific  lands  at  least. 

I  learned  when  in  Japan,  and  from  a  director  of  the  Associated 


422      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Press,  that  owing  to  a  contract  between  American  Associated 
Press  and  British  Renter  that  world  news  to  Japan  must  go  only 
through  Reuter.  Java  has  asked  tliat  Honolulu  be  made  a  "drop" 
station  and  that  a  man  be  stationed  here  to  select  from  the  "drop" 
service  such  news  as  each  Pacific  country  may  desire  and  forward 
it  by  wireless. 

Premier  Massey  of  New  Zealand  informed  me  the  other  day 
that  it  may  be  years  before  the  round-the-world  British  system  of 
wireless  stations  is  put  in  operation.  One  of  these  is  to  be  located 
at  Auckland  and  the  premier  hopes  then  that  we  of  other  parts  of 
the  Pacific,  not  colored  in  red,  may  be  permitted  to  send  wireless 
press  messages  to  Pacific  British  possessions.  Who  knows  what 
may  happen  in  the  Pacific  during  the  next  few  years  before  us  if 
the  press  of  the  Pacific  does  not  arise  to  its  great  duty  and  by 
truthful  reporting  dispel  some  of  the  misunderstandings  that  are 
arising  because  of  the  fact  that  the  press  of  the  Pacific  is  not 
educating  the  people  concerning  each  others  afifairs. 

Tributary  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  lives  more  than  half  the 
population  of  the  globe.  The  Pacific  Ocean  is  the  future  theatre 
of  the  commerce  of  the  world.  Here  in  the  Pacific  meet  the  oldest 
and  the  newest  civilizations.  From  now  on  it  is  the  Pacific  lands 
that  must  feed  the  world.  Lack  of  co-operation  and  understanding 
among  Pacific  peoples  would  prove  the  greatest  calamity  the  world 
has  yet  known.  The  press  of  the  Pacific  alone  can  prevent  this 
calamity  and  save  the  world.  From  now  on  the  greater  part  of  the 
world's  people  will  have  their  homes  in  Pacific  lands.  Their  lead- 
ers should  be  brought  together  for  better  understanding  of  each 
other's  aims  and  ambitions,  and  the  press  should  create,  as  it  can, 
a  patriotism  of  the  Pacific. 

In  the  Orient  many  of  the  journalistic  leaders  are  graduates 
of  an  American  school  of  journalism  where  they  have  been  tavight, 
as  the  foundation  principle,  that  a  news-gatherer  should  be  a 
gentleman  at  heart  and  in  action.  This  is  also  a  tradition  among 
the  British  pressmen  in  the  Orient,  This  leaven  is  permeating  the 
Anglo  Saxon  press  of  the  Far  East  and  should  be  the  watchword 
of  the  vernacular  press.  This  little  body  of  men  is  having  a 
marked  influence  in  the  Orient ;  the  leaders  among  the  pressmen 
in  the  Philippines,  China,  Japan  and  Korea,  know  each  other  per- 
sonally and  trust  each  other.    As  this  circle  enlarges  the  jingoists 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         423 

will  find  it  more  difficult  to  excite  the  imaginations  of  those  who 
do  not  always  think  seriously  and  investigate.  The  men  of  the 
press  in  the  Pacific,  when  they  know  each  other,  will  learn  to  trust 
each  other,  and  in  every  Pacific  land  they  will  strive  to  be  worthy 
of  this  trust  of  their  distant  confreres  and  the  serious  problems  of 
the  Pacific  will  dissipate  in  fleecy  clouds,  knowledge  of  each  other's 
afifairs  will  take  the  place  of  ignorance  and  prejudice  and  under- 
standing will  supersede  misunderstanding,  if  only  our  press  of 
the  Pacific  will  consummate  its  high  mission. 

Perhaps  there  should  be  two  distinct  bodies  in  the  future  Pan- 
Pacific  Press  Conference:  One  a  League  of  Pacific  Newspapers 
composed  of  proprietors  and  the  business  staff,  that  should  out- 
line the  general  business  policy,  deal  with  the  cost  of  paper  and 
news-gathering,  reducing  their  cost  by  co-operative  methods  and 
perhaps  reducing  the  cost  of  international  advertising  to  the  ad- 
vertiser through  similar  methods  of  co-operation  among  the  busi- 
ness staffs  of  the  newspapers  and  magazines  published  in  Pacific 
lands.  The  other  and  more  important  body,  for  the  peace  of  the 
world  at  least,  should  be  the  actual  disseminators  of  news  and 
information  concerning  Pacific  lands.  They  should  meet  together 
to  know  each  other  and  to  plan  work  that  will  make  the  people 
of  each  Pacific  land  know  more  about  the  people  of  other  Pacific 
lands.  The  first  step  such  a  body  should  take  would  be  to  secure 
a  reduction  in  the  cable  and  wireless  press  rates  between  Pacific 
lands,  and  actual  free  trade  in  wireless  press  correspondence, 
unhampered  by  any  private  or  other  contracts  that  would  militate 
against  the  cheapest  possible  rates  in  the  dissemination  of  inter- 
national news  and  information. 

The  late  ex-Secretary  of  the  Interior,  Franklin  K.  Lane,  ex- 
President  Wilson,  Senator  Henry  Cabot  Lodge  and  President 
Harding  have  all  voiced  the  opinion  that  in  the  Pacific,  having  be- 
hind it  thousands  of  years  of  traditions  of  peace,  that  here  might 
be  the  logical  birthplace  of  a  real  League  of  Nations.  Who  knows 
but  that  it  may  not  be  the  mission  of  the  press  of  the  Pacific  to 
bring  this  about. 

Next  September  there  is  to  be  held  in  Honolulu  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  the  first  Pan-Pacific  Com- 
mercial Conference.  It  is  hoped  that  President  Harding  may  be 
present,  and  should  he  find  it  possible  to  be  here  at  that  time,  he 


424       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

will.  If  he  does  come  to  Hawaii,  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  will  invite 
the  presidents  and  premiers  of  all  Pacific  lands  to  meet  here  in 
friendly  conference. 

Then,  perhaps  once  more,  the  pressmen  of  the  Pacific  may  be 
asked  to  gather  in  honor  of  such  an  informal  meeting  of  the  heads 
■of  Pacific  governments,  and  it  would  be  an  inspiration  for  better 
understanding  the  future  results  of  which  might  be  incalculably 
good. 

The  Pan-Pacific  Union  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Walter  Williams, 
President  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  issued  the  call  for 
the  first  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,  with  the  understanding 
that  it  was  to  be  a  permanent  body  to  meet  for  conference  every 
two  or  three  years ;  a  regional  conference  body  affiliated  with  the 
Press  Congress  of  the  World  and  one  that  would  stimulate  the 
holding  of  annual  local  press  conferences  in  the  Orient,  Aus- 
tralasia and  on  the  Pacific  Coast  of  America. 

The  Pan-Pacific  Union  gladly  assumed  the  responsibility  for 
the  call,  and  further  offers  its  services  to  the  permanent  organ- 
ization. 

The  Pan-Pacific  Educational  Conference,  recently  held  here, 
passed  a  number  of  recommendations  that  it  requested  the  Union 
to  carry  out,  among  these  the  publishing  of  its  proceedings  and 
the  preparation  for  and  the  calling  of  a  second  Pan-Pacific  Edu- 
cational Conference.  The  Union  has  secured  the  services  of  Dr. 
F.  F.  Bunker,  to  assist  in  carrying  out  the  recommendations  made 
and  has  appropriated  sufficient  funds  for  carrying  out  most  of 
them. 

In  the  matter  of  aiding  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  along 
kindred  lines  I  am  certain  that  the  Union  would  endeavor  to  carry 
out  any  recommendations  of  this  Conference,  if  so  requested.  We 
wish  to  serve. 

The  workers  in  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  are  constantly  brought 
face  to  face  with  the  fact  that  for  good  or  evil  the  power  of  the 
press  will  guide  the  destinies  of  the  Pacific.  There  is  need  today 
as  never  before  that  you  men  of  the  press  give  us  the  best  that  is 
in  you  toward  the  dissemination  of  truthful  and  helpful  facts  con- 
cerning Pacific  lands.  What  will  you  do  about  it — how  can  we 
aid? 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  425 

A  PACIFIC  UNDERSTANDING 


By  Guy  Inne;s, 

Associate  Editor,  The  Herald,  Melbourne,  Australia. 

Throughout  his  tour  to  AustraHa  and  New  Zealand,  Lord 
NorthcHffe,  principal  proprietor  of  the  London  "Times,"  and  one 
of  the  greatest  of  the  British  Empire's  journalists,  lost  no  oppor- 
tunity of  emphasizing  the  importance,  particularly  to  Australia  and 
the  British  possessions  in  the  Pacific,  of  the  Disarmament  Confer- 
ence to  be  held  at  Washington.  He  pointed  out  that  at  this  confer- 
ence Australia's  fate  might  be  settled,  and,  largely  as  the  result  of 
his  utterances,  the  five  and  a  half  million  inhabitants  of  the  great 
Island  Commonwealth  are  beginning,  perhaps  belatedly,  to  realize 
how  vital  to  them  and  to  their  country  are  the  problems  to  be  dis- 
cussed at  the  Conference,  and  how  much  they  are  concerned  in 
the  result  of  its  deliberations.  It  was  originally  understood  that 
the  interests  of  Australia  as  a  component  part  of  the  British 
Empire,  would  be  safeguarded  by  the  British  delegation  to  this 
great  international  congress ;  and,  though  Australia  trusts  her 
Motherland  to  the  full,  more  than  one  close  student  of  the  situa- 
tion regretted  that  the  Australian  Commonwealth  was  not  to  be 
represented  individually  and  directly  by  one  of  her  own  statesmen, 
who  could  interpret  clearly  and  emphatically  the  attitude  and 
ideals  of  his  nation  in  regard  to  problems  peculiarly  her  own — 
such,  for  instance,  as  the  maintenance  of  the  White  Australia 
policy.  This  is  of  particular  importance  in  view  of  the  statement 
that  Japan  intends  to  seek  the  removal  of  restrictions  upon  immi- 
gration from  Japan  to  other  Pacific  lands.  Very  welcome,  there- 
fore, is  the  announcement  of  the  Prime  Minister  of  Australia, 
William  Morris  Hughes,  that,  as  the  outcome  of  communications 
with  Washington,  Senator  G.  F.  Pearce,  Minister  for  Defense, 
has  been  appointed  to  represent  Australia  at  the  Disarmament 
Conference.  Senator  Pearce,  who  was  appointed  to  his  present 
position  in  the  cabinet  before  the  war,  can  be  relied  upon,  by 
reason  of  his  long  political  experience  and  his  thorough  familiarity 
with  the  problems  that  will  be  discussed,  for  the  ample  presenta- 
tion of  Australia's  case,  particularly  as  he  will  have  full  knowl- 


426      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

edge,  through  his  close  personal  association  with  Mr.  Hughes,  of 
the  transactions  at  the  recent  Empire  Conference  of  Prime  Min- 
isters. The  appointment  of  a  direct  representative  is  clear  proof 
that  Australia  realizes  to  the  full  that  her  future  is  as  closely 
involved  in  the  outcome  of  the  Washington  Conference  as  is  that 
of  any  nation  bordering  on  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

It  is  in  the  Pacific,  in  days  to  come,  that  the  form  of  our 
future  civilization  may  be  decided.  Peace  in  the  Pacific  is  a  surety 
for  the  peace  of  the  world.  A  stroke  of  the  pen  maye  fore- 
stall and  prevent  the  blow  of  the  sword.  By  strokes  of 
the  pen  has  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  been  created ;  and  there  are  no 
bounds  to  the  hopes  which  that  Union  may  inspire  for  the  dawn- 
ing of  the  day  "when  nation  shall  not  lift  up  sword  against  nation." 
It  is  fortunate  and  fitting  that  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference 
should  precede  the  great  conference  at  Washington ;  for  there  is 
as  yet  no  other  agency  in  existence  so  well  calculated  to  promote 
that  mutual  understanding  between  the  Pacific  nations  and  that 
frank  appreciation  of  the  aims  which  they  have  in  common  to 
safeguard  civilization  as  is  this  organization  of  practical  idealists. 

That  the  shore  of  the  Pacific  is  the  threshold  of  the  world  has 
been  realized  by  Mr.  Hughes,  who,  addressing  the  Commonwealth 
House  of  Representatives  shortly  after  his  return  from  the  con- 
ference in  England  of  the  Prime  Ministers  of  the  British  Empire, 
said  in  effect  that  the  solution  of  the  problems  of  the  Pacific  was 
essentially  a  precedent  to  the  satisfactory  conduct  and  conclusion 
of  the  Disarmament  Conference.  It  needs  no  profound  study  of 
his  utterance  to  demonstrate  its  truth.  So  long  as  there  is  a  possi- 
bility of  this  ocean  becoming  the  arena  of  the  world  in  arms,  for 
just  so  long  will  the  certainty  exist  that  those  nations  taking  part 
in  the  conference  at  Washington  will  endeavor  to  attain  and  main- 
tain that  state  of  overwhelming  preparedness  which  prefers  arse- 
nals to  arbitration,  and,  in  too  early  a  resort,  cruisers  to  congresses 
of  peace.  Every  possible  step  should  be  taken  to  ensure  that  each 
participant  has  concrete  rather  than  piously  hopeful  reasons  for 
the  belief  that  the  meeting  will  achieve  more  than  ever  Hague 
Conference  has  attempted  aforetime,  and  that  there  must  be  no 
feeling,  however  diplomatically  concealed  that  though  a  colleague 
has  his  cards  on  the  table,  there  is  a  gun  on  his  hip. 

Much,  therefore,  rests  with  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         427 

Assembled  on  one  of  the  fairest  isles  of  a  sea  which  has  ever 
been  a  field  of  exploration  and  of  commerce  rather  than  the  battle- 
ground of  contending  navies,  it  can  serve  greatly  in  making  that 
sea  Pacific  in  fame  as  it  is  Pacific  in  name.  By  promoting  an  in- 
ternational understanding,  honest,  frank  and  free  from  chau- 
vinistic propaganda  masquerading  as  patriotism,  it  can  go  far  to 
annihilate  those  mischievous  misunderstandings  too  often  deliber- 
ately fostered,  which  even  if  they  do  not  lead  to  direct  war,  yet 
create  an  atmosphere  of  unrest  and  distrust  which  can  be  para- 
lysing if  not  actually  disastrous.  Nowhere  does  one  realize  this 
as  in  Honolulu,  standing  as  it  does  as  a  marine  telephone  exchange 
where  the  world's  wires  converge ;  where,  in  the  words  of  Emerson 

''Every  day  brings  a  ship — 

Every  ship  brings  a  word." 
Shall  not  the  efforts  of  the  Pan-Pacific  bring  the  consumma- 
tion voiced  by  the  poet : 

"Well  for  him  who  hath  no  fear. 

Looking  seaward,  well  assured 

That  the  word  the  vessel  brings 

Is  the  word  he  longs  to  hear." 
And  that  word  is — "Peace." 

As  has  been  said  by  resolution  duly  attested,  the  Conference 
offers  a  co-ordinating  agency  which  can  take  the  initiative  and  can 
stimulate,  in  the  wisest  and  widest  sense,  education  to  common 
ends  in  the  various  Pacific  nations.  And  it  can  "undertake  either 
directly  or  indirectly  *  *  *  a  thorough  scientific  investigation  of 
the  causes  of  war  and  assist  educational  machinery  in  the  various 
nations  to  remove  causes  which  may  contribute  to  war  making." 

Now,  the  power-house  of  that  machinery  is  the  Press.  No 
other  medium  is  so  certain  in  its  operation  or  so  far-reaching  in 
its  activities.  It  is  for  the  Congress  to  take  advantage  of  it,  and 
by  its  legitimate  use,  discountenancing  the  spread  of  misleading 
or  merely  sectional  propaganda  of  the  baser  sort,  to  establish  an 
understanding  among  Pacific  countries  which  will  form  the  best 
guarantee  that  the  world  can  have  for  a  reduction  of  armaments, 
or,  failing  their  immediate  reduction,  a  halt  in  that  adding  of 
armor-plate  to  armor-plate  and  weapon  to  weapon  which  makes 
a  nation  so  ponderous  in  its  might  that  it  must  through  sheer 
weight  fall  upon  its  neighbor. 


428       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Excellent  within  their  limits  as  are  the  various  news  services 
to  Australia,  and  widespread  as  are  their  ultimate  sources,  they 
are  at  present  too  costly,  as  was  pointed  out  at  the  recent  Im- 
perial Press  Congress  held  at  Ottawa,  to  permit  of  their  full  use 
as  a  factor  in  promoting  international  understanding.  There  is 
too  little  opportunity  for  the  chronicling  of  consecutive  and  con- 
structive steps  in  social  progress,  in  altruistic  legislation  and  its 
effects,  in  great  educational  movement,  and  in  efforts  in  any  coun- 
try which  have  for  their  objective  the  co-ordination  of  internation- 
al forces  for  peace.  Were  a  cheaper  cable  service  possible,  particu- 
larly between  countries  bordering  upon  the  Pacific,  Australian 
papers  could  afford  to  a  greater  extent  than  they  do  at  present  to 
maintain  trustworthy  special  correspondents  in  the  important 
cities  of  these  lands,  whose  work  would  go  far  to  promote  what 
may  be  described  as  the  entente  cordiale  of  the  Pacific.  This,  from 
the  Australian  point  of  view,  would  be  preferable  to  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  news  bureau  which  would  endeavor  to  serve  the 
Australian  press  as  a  whole.  The  more  important  Australian 
papers  prefer  to  maintain  as  far  as  possible  an  individuality  in 
their  news  service,  at  least  as  far  as  the  two  main  groups  of 
journals  are  concerned.  One  of  these  groups,  which  consists 
largely  of  morning  papers,  receives  a  cable  service  which  is  under 
control  of  its  own  managing  editors  in  London  and  New  York, 
and  the  other,  in  which  the  two  principal  Australian  evening 
journals  (the  Melbourne  Herald  and  the  Sydney  Sun)  are 
associated,  in  conjunction  with  Reuters,  receives  services  from 
London,  Vancouver,  Tokio  and  elsewhere,  although  London  and 
Vancouver  are  the  main  headquarters.  From  the  point  of  view 
of  accuracy,  general  interest,  and  scope,  this  latter  service,  always 
having  regard  to  the  restrictions  imposed  by  the  cost  of  cabling, 
reaches,  it  is  generally  acknowledged,  a  high  standard  of  excel- 
lence. But  it  might  cover  Pacific  news  far  more  fully  than  it  does 
at  present. 

Whether  greater  recourse  could  be  had  to  wireless  messages  as 
a  means  of  securing  a  more  ample  service  is  a  matter  of  some 
doubt.  Were  the  cost  of  cable  transmission  made  cheaper,  most  of 
the  existing  drawbacks  could  be  overcome.  Competition  or 
threatened  competition  by  wireless  might  have  this  effect,  as  the 
cable  companies  might  reduce  their  charges  in  self-defense.     But 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         429 

it  remains  to  be  proved  by  actual  experiment  whether  an  exclu- 
sively wireless  service  could  ever  take  the  place  of  cable  news. 
A  partly  wireless  service  has  been  introduced  by  the  Pacific  Cable 
Board,  but  this  is  not  much  used  for  press  purposes. 

It  should  here  be  explained  that  there  are  two  principal  cable 
companies  operating  routes  to  Australia  from  England.  One  is  the 
Pacific,  by  which  messages  after  being  transmitted  from  England 
across  the  Atlantic  to  Vancouver  by  the  Anglo-American  and 
Commercial  Company's  cable,  are  forwarded  from  Montreal  by 
way  of  Fanning  Island,  Fiji,  and  Norfolk  Island  to  Southport, 
Queensland,  whence  they  are  distributed  over  Australia.  There  is 
a  branch  cable  from  Norfolk  Island  to  New  Zealand.  In  addition, 
there  are  two  submarine  cables  which  connect  the  latter  Dominion 
with  the  Australian  mainland. 

The  other  principal  organization  is  the  Eastern  Extension 
Cable  Company,  which,  in  addition  to  the  original  cable  from 
London  to  Port  Darwin,  in  the  Northern  Territory  of  Australia, 
has  duplicated  this  line,  and  has  also  laid  a  cable  from  Great 
Britain  via  Durban,  South  Africa,  to  Fremantle,  West  Australia. 
There  is  an  alternative  route,  partly  belonging  to  the  Eastern  Ex- 
tension Company,  connecting  the  Port  Darwin-Singapore  cable 
with  London  via  Hongkong,  Shanghai,  and  Russia.  A  cable 
from  Java  to  Cocos  Island  affords  another  route  from  South 
Africa  to  Australia,  and  a  radio  station  at  Cocos  strengthens  the 
line  of  communication  between  Australia  and  the  East.  Rates 
for  press  cables  from  England  range  from  seven  cents  to  seventy- 
two  cents  a  word,  according  to  whether  they  are  ordinary  press 
or  urgent. 

In  considering  the  question  of  wireless  competition,  regard 
must  be  had  to  the  fact  that  the  Governments  of  the  various 
Australian  States  were,  and  the  Australian  Federal  Government 
is,  financially  interested  in  the  continuance  of  the  existing  cable 
services,  inasmuch  as  the  cable  companies  were  or  are  subsidized 
by  Government  to  defray  in  part  the  cost  of  the  service  or  of 
laying  the  original  cable.  With  regard  to  the  Pacific  Cable,  the 
Commonwealth  shares  proportionately  in  the  profit  or  loss  which 
accrues  from  the  traffic.  The  subsidy  agreement  between  the 
State  Governments  and  the  Eastern  Extension  Company  ex- 
pired in  1900, 


430      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Even  if  present  circumstances,  which  include  the  terms  of 
existing  press  contracts  with  the  cable  companies,  do  not  permit 
of  immediate  recourse  to  wireless,  the  prospect  of  its  adoption 
might  be  of  value  as  a  lever  to  secure  a  reduction  in  cable  rates. 
In  any  case,  the  lowering  of  the  latter  should  be  strongly  urged 
by  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference. 

But  whatever  be  the  ultimate  means  adopted  to  increase  the 
scope  and  efficiency  of  the  news  services  throughout  the  Pacific, 
no  permanent  good  can  be  achieved  that  is  not  sought  in  a  spirit 
of  forbearance,  understanding,  and  mutual  comprehension.  Con- 
cession must  meet  with  concession,  not  challenge  with  challenge. 
The  Pan-Pacific  Union  has  supplied  the  initiative,  and  it  is  for 
the  press  of  the  Pacific  to  follow  its  example.  Nation  by  nation, 
it  may  educate  the  world.  Much  has  already  been  gained  by  the 
gathering  together  in  one  spot,  where  they  may  interchange  ideas 
and  formulate  constructive  proposals,  of  so  many  men  who  are 
primarily  a  power  for  the  dissemination  of  the  truth.  The  torch 
of  enlightenment  has  been  kindled,  and  it  may  yet  illuminate 
the  greater  half  of  the  globe.  The  acquisition  of  a  better  mu- 
tual knowledge  of  national  aims  and  aspirations  is  inseparable 
from  such  a  meeting  as  this ;  and  when  those  who  have  assem- 
bled go  forth  pledged  to  spread  in  their  own  countries  the  truth 
about  every  other  land,  the  good  that  will  result  must  be  incal- 
culable. With  every  succeeding  conference  the  scope  of  achieve- 
ment will  be  amplified,  until,  in  Mr.  Alexander  Hume  Ford's 
notable  words,  the  press  has  created  a  patriotism  of  the  Pacific. 


PAN-PACIFIC  CABLE  NEWS  SERVICE 


By  T.  Petrie, 
Editor,  South  China  Morning  Post,  Hongkong. 

"Tell  them  we  want  a  broader,  bigger,  brighter  and  better 
cable  news  service."  That  was  the  last  injunction  I  received  on 
leaving  Hongkong  to  attend  this  conference. 

Hitherto  the  position  has  not  been  satisfactory.  Hongkong  is 
tied  to  Renter,  Manila  to  the  Associated  Press,  Tokyo  to  Kok- 
usai.  No  agency  treads  on  the  ground  of  another,  and  costs 
are  far  too  high   for  the  development  of  individual  enterprise. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         431 

Shanghai,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  dumping  ground  for  many 
services.  Renter  is  the  chief  ingredient  of  a  confused  mass  of 
intelHgence  landed  there,  but  the  lump  is  leavened  by  smatterings 
of  American  and  French  wireless,  and  supplemented  by  liberal 
doses  of  Russian  and  German  information  of  doubtful  origin 
and  authenticity.  It  is  not  an  ideal  dish,  but,  in  such  a  mixed 
community,  it  probably  meets  with  more  acceptance  than  any 
single  agency  service  could  possibly  command. 

What  we  should  aim  at  is  the  ideal  dish. 

Renter,  as  a  British  agency,  features  British  news  and  views. 
The  Associated  Press  caters  for  American  readers,  while  Kok- 
usai,  which  I  believe  is  a  camouflaged  Renter  oiTshoot,  is  in- 
tended solely  for  Japanese  consumption.  Not  one  of  these  big 
news  agencies  deals,  except  in  the  "scrappiest"  fashion,  with 
the  news  which  most  concerns  ask,  the  news  of  the  countries 
bordering  the  Pacific.  They  tell  us  of  happenings,  mainly  po- 
litical, in  London,  Paris,  Washington,  but  seldom  do  they  give 
enlightenment  as  to  what  is  transpiring  in  those  vast  territories 
which  border  the  Pacific,  the  peoples  of  which  comprise  one- 
third  of  the  population  of  the  globe.  They  tell  us  little  or  noth- 
ing about  our  immediate  neighbors,  and  it  follows  that  such  news 
as  we  get,  presented  as  it  is  in  different  ways  in  different  coun- 
tries, is  not  conducive  to  good  understanding.  Errors  creep  in, 
even  falsehoods,  and  friction  results.  This  is  perhaps  the  chief 
disadvantage  of  the  present  system,  or  lack  of  system. 

Some  months  ago  I  received  a  letter  from  Mr.  Ford,  direc- 
tor of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union,  in  which  he  suggested  Honolulu 
as  a  center  for  the  collection  and  dissemination  of  news  to  and 
from  the  Pacific.  Herein  lies  an  opportunity  for  the  Pan-Pacific 
Press  Conference  to  step  in  and  to  perform  a  real  service  not 
only  to  pressdom  but  to  the  reading  public  of  Pacific  lands. 
Benjamin  Franklin  described  the  press  as  "the  mistress  of  in- 
telligence." It  behooves  us  to  guard  that  title.  To  be  worthy 
of  the  dignity  it  implies,  it  is  imperative  that  the  press  of  the 
Pacific  should  move  with  the  times.  The  war  has  altered  many 
things.  It  has  broadened  the  outlook  of  millions.  No  longer 
are  we  satisfied  with  news  from  the  homeland  alone,  the  news 
which  in  days  gone  by  came  like  water  to  thirsty  souls.  We  want 
to  be  fully  informed  of  current  events  in  other  lands,  and  chiefly 


432      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

we  want  to  know  and  become  acquainted  with  our  neighbors. 
We  want  to  get  together  and  to  understand  each  other.  Then 
we  must  give  a  thought  to  the  wants  of  the  native  elements  who 
surround  us.  The  foreign  press  is  an  important  factor  in  bring- 
ing enHghtenment  to  many  millions  of  races  who  are  just  be- 
ginning to  interest  themselves  in  the  doings  of  the  western  world. 
The  numbers  of  native  readers  of  the  foreign  press  in  China, 
Japan,  Malaya  and  elsewhere  on  the  Pacific  are  increasing  by 
leaps  and  bounds,  and  no  progressive  newspaper  can  afford  to 
ignore  their  wants. 

It  should  be  possible  for  us  to  organize  a  liberal  and  inex- 
pensive yet  thoroughly  reliable  and  acceptable  general  news  serv- 
ice for  the  Pacific. 

A  broader  service — a  service  of  world-wide  scope  and  out- 
look, a  service  which  as  far  as  possible  will  reveal  both  sides  of 
the  picture  at  the  same  time. 

A  bigger  service — ^a  service  which  will  not  be  restricted  by 
the  terms  of  a  contract  yielding  so  many  words  for  so  many  dol- 
lars, a  service  always  as  big  as  the  event  recorded  warrants. 

A  brighter  service — ^a  service  which  will  deal  much  more 
liberally  with  the  happy  side  of  international  affairs  and  much 
less  liberally  with  the  petty  woes  and  worries  which  torment 
humanity. 

A  better  service — a  service  of  real  live  news  and  news  only, 
a  service  which  will  not  attempt  in  any  way  to  influence  the 
minds  of  the  writers  who  may  have  to  handle  it. 

Surely  between  us  we  can  provide  a  service  on  these  lines. 
A  central  organization  will  be  needed  to  collect  and  distribute 
the  news.  I  can  think  of  no  better  center  than  Honolulu,  the 
hub  of  the  Pacific.  Here  we  already  have  the  nucleus  of  the  or- 
ganization and  the  willingness  to  work.  This  great  Pacific  Cable 
News  Service  will  need  a  staff  and  a  number  of  correspondents. 
The  cost  will  be  heavy,  but  as  a  set-off  there  should  soon  arise  a 
demand  for  Pacific  news  from  our  organization,  which  news  will 
be  supplied  by  and  credited  to  its  respective  contributors. 
Telegraphic  charges  will  be  the  main  item  of  cost,  but 
it  will  be  the  duty  of  our  organization  to  continually 
press  for  reduction.  By  ceaseless  agitation  we  can, 
I    am    sure,  obtain    both    cheap  and  better   telegraphic   facili- 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  433 

ties  than  we  have  hitherto  had.  With  wireless  and  the  sub- 
marine cable  competing  for  our  business — they  are  bound  to  do 
this  in  time — such  a  news  service  as  I  have  outlined  can  be  or- 
ganized and  operated  with  benefit*  to  all  concerned.  Better 
served,  the  press  can  do  much  to  tone  down  and  even  dispel  the 
many  misunderstandings  and  jealousies  which  afflict  the  cosmo- 
politan communities  bordering  the  Pacific.  Some  members  of 
the  Conference  may  consider  a  Pacific  cable  news  service  such 
as  I  have  outlined  in  advance  of  the  times,  but  those  members 
who  have  resided  in  the  East  for  a  number  of  years  cannot  fail 
to  appreciate  and  approve  the  motive  which  has  inspired  the 
idea.  A  big  change  in  the  collection  and  distribution  of  cable 
news  must  come  sooner  or  later,  and  it  will  be  well  to  prepare, 
for  much  water  will  flow  under  the  bridge  before  such  a  get- 
together  opportunity  as  this  gathering  ofifers  occurs  again. 


INTERCHANGE  OF  NEWS  IN  THE  PACIFIC 


By  Riley  H.  Allen, 
Editor,  Honolulu  Star-Bulletin. 

There  can  be  no  difference  of  opinion  among  newspapermen 
of  the  countries  in  the  Pacific,  as  to  the  high  desirability  of  that 
millenium  of  "better  understanding"  about  which  we  have  heard 
with  significant  frequency  from  the  day  the  Press  Congress  of 
the  World  opened. 

We  need  not  debate  the  question  whether  freer  interchange 
of  news  and  views  about  really  important  Pacific  questions  will 
help  to  promote  better  understanding — the  truth  of  it  is  self- 
evident. 

W^e  need  not  assure  our  Anglo-Saxon,  Japanese,  Chinese,  Fili- 
pino, Korean  fellow-newspapermen  that  if  the  channels  of  com- 
munication about  and  across  the  Pacific  were  broader  and  smooth- 
er, we  who  live  about  the  Pacific  would  be  less  apt  to  suspect 
each  other's  motives  and  criticise  each  other's  actions.  The  truth 
of  that  is  self-evident,  too. 

Our  first  problem  is  right  here  among  those  of  us  who  are 
fortunate  enough  to  be  at  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  and 

28 


434      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

this  Pan-Pacific  conference.  It  is  to  translate  all  the  energy 
and  fervor  and  gallant  spirit  expressed  in  the  many  addresses 
and  papers  into  certain  concrete  terms  which  shall  formulate  at 
least  one  or  two  courses  of  action  to  be  undertaken  immediately 
after  this  conference  has  concluded. 

I  need  hardly  emphasize  to  our  visitors  that  we  newspapermen 
in  Hawaii  agree  with  what  has  been  said  of  the  need  for  lower 
press  rates;  the  need  for  a  broader  service  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Orient;  the  need  for  a  greater  variety  of  news, 
and  especially  for  Oriental  and  American  news,  to  be  made  avail- 
able for  Australia  and  New  Zealand.  Hawaii's  geographical 
position  is  such,  and  the  development  of  the  island  press  has 
been  such,  as  to  bring  home  to  us  daily  the  desirability  of  a  vastly 
increased  news  service  throughout  Pacific  lands.  We  know  also 
that  the  majority  of  newspapers  in  the  Pacific  islands  and  in  Asia 
are  financially  unable  to  assume  a  greater  burden  of  news  expense 
than  they  now  carry,  and  many  are  finding  their  costs  in  traffic 
tariffs  and  the  salaries  of  correspondents  a  greater  load  than  is 
comfortable. 

Nor  need  I  emphasize  that  the  newspapermen  of  Hawaii 
believe  that  this  freer  interchange  of  national  news  would  have 
a  beneficial  political  effect  in  addition  to  its  obvious  benefit  to 
the  newspaper  by  the  greater  diversity  and  balance  of  matter 
which  it  could  offer  its  readers.  Our  visitors,  I  am  sure,  will 
not  have  failed  to  see  that  in  Hawaii  we  Americans  believe 
in  frank  exchange  of  views  on  important  and  sometimes  deli- 
cate subjects  with  our  fellow-residents  of  other  races.  On  a 
vastly  larger  scale,  that  same  principle  would  be  carried  out  in 
the  great  news-exchange  which  we  should  like  to  see  developed 
for  the  Pacific. 

Taking  it  for  granted  that  we  have  fairly  similar  ideas  on 
the  principles  and  purposes  just  mentioned,  how  can  we  put  them 
into  action? 

My  two  suggestions,  and  they  are  put  forth  with  entire  knowl- 
edge of  the  difficulty  of  carrying  them  out,  are,  first,  an  inter- 
national press  rate ;  and  secondly,  the  use  of  government  wireless 
stations  to  carry  the  news. 

In  connection  with  the  matter,  let  me,  for  Hawaii,  heartily 
second  what  Mr.   McClatchy  of  Sacramento  said  to  the   Press 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  435 

Congress  of  the  World  a  few  days  ago — that  the  agreement  by 
which  the  government  radio  is  made  available  for  communica- 
tions on  the  Pacific  be  extended,  after  its  first  two-year  period 
ends  next  July.  The  renewal  of  this  agreement  is  so  imperative 
to  the  welfare  of  the  American  newspapers  of  the  Pacific  that  I 
cannot  emphasize  it  too  strongly.  It  means  so  much  to  the 
future  of  the  Pacific  for  press  service  to  be  comprehensive,  un- 
hampered and  efficient  that  an  abrogation  of  the  present  system 
would  be  disastrous. 
1.     The  International  Press  Rate: 

Various  suggestions  have  been  made  in  recent  years,  and  es- 
pecially since  the  conclusion  of  the  World  W^ar,  for  national  press 
rates.  One  such  suggestion  which  received  considerable  atten- 
tion has,  I  believe,  been  considered  by  the  British  government — 
that  a  uniform  one-cent  rate  be  established  for  press  matter  be- 
tween any  two  points  in  the  British  dominions.  I  have  read  also 
that  the  French  government  has  considered  a  similar  plan. 

Now  obviously  this  plan  is  not  based  primarily  on  the  expense 
of  such  a  traffic  service.  It  takes  no  account  of  distances  to  be 
covered,  relays  to  be  made,  or  other  physical  features.  The  plan 
is  based  primarily  on  a  realization  of  the  value  of  an  empire- 
wide  press  service,  a  service  which  shall  permit  and  encourage  the 
transmission  of  a  great  volume  of  news  at  a  low  cost.  It  is 
based  on  a  recognition  of  the  need  for  giving  to  far-separated 
peoples  a  sense  of  their  common  interests  and  common  destiny. 

No  private  business  could  set  up  such  an  arrangement,  in 
which  the  charge  to  patron  is  based  not  at  all  on  the  cost  of  opera- 
tion, and  survive.  But  a  government  which  spends  billions  to 
build  battleships  which  may  never  fire  a  shot,  or  drill  armies  that 
may  never  be  called  into  the  field,  can  subsidize  the  lines  of  com- 
munication, either  government  or  privately  owned,  and  make 
such  a  uniform  rate  possible. 

It  may  be  argued  that  while  a  single  government  might  per- 
fect such  an  arrangement,  the  technical  difficulties  involved  in 
immense  distances  and  various  kinds  of  communication  facilities 
would  make  an  international  plan  impossible.  I  do  not  think 
so,  I  think  that  if  we  accept  the  idea  of  an  international  press 
rate  as  sound,  we  and  other  countries  would  have  no  more  diffi- 
culties working  out  the  details  than  we  had  with  our  international 


436      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

postal  conventions, — and  the  United  States,  for  instance,  has 
successfully  operated  under  international  postal  conventions  since 
1869. 

This  is  a  day  when  international  standardization  is  being  used 
to  promote  business — why  not  use  it  to  promote  communications 
and  peace?  We  are  getting  to  a  universal  system  of  weights  and 
measures ;  we  have  international  telegraphic  unions  already.  It 
is  noteworthy  that  an  adviser  to  the  French  treasury  department, 
Monsieur  I.  Bourquin,  has  just  proposed  in  La  Revue  Mondiale 
an  international  money  to  pass  at  par  throughout  the  world  in 
all  international  transactions. 

A  uniform  press  rate  would  immensely  stimulate  and  simplify 
press  traffic  around  the  world.  I  think  perhaps  its  greatest  value 
would  be  to  bring  world-news  to  remote  communities.  Its 
value  in  getting  the  larger  communities  of  North  and  South 
America,  Europe,  Asia,  Australia,  and  Africa  into  contact  with 
each  other  would  be  scarcely  less.  ^ 

I  do  not  mean  to  suggest  government  control  of  the  news  in  § 

any  form,  except  the  physical  features  of  the  traffic.    My  thought  | 

is  that  the  support  and  activities  of  the  governments  concerned  |. 

would  be  confined  to  providing  the  facilities  for  transmission,  and  I 

paying  the  bills — for  assuredly,  at  the  outset,  there  would  be  some  | 

deficits. 

Perhaps  the  single  arbitrary  control  which  the  governments 
should  exercise  would  be  on  the  point  of  volume  of  news  matter 
to  be  carried.  Of  course  they  could  not  be  expected  to  turn  their 
facilities  over  without  limit.  Within  the  limits,  however,  it 
should  not  be  a  matter  of  government  dictation  what  sort  of  mat- 
ter was  transmitted,  except  as  are  already  imposed  by  constitu- 
tional law. 
2.     Use  of  Government  Wireless  Stations. 

What  I  have  just  said  on  a  uniform  press  rate  must  be  con- 
sidered with  the  second  suggestion  of  greatly  developing  the 
use  of  government  wireless. 

Hawaii  has  made  and  is  making  perhaps  greater  use  of  wire- 
less in  peace-time  than  any  other  community  in  the  world.  It 
was  in  these  islands  that  wireless  was  first  made  commercially 
practicable.  For  a  good  many  years  the  daily  papers  of  Honolulu 
have  received  almost,  and  are  now  receiving  all,  of  their  news 
report  by  wireless. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  437 

Our  very  successful  use  of  wireless,  and  especially  the  fine 
cooperation  and  efficient  traffic  arrangements  which  the  Honolulu 
papers  are  receiving  from  the  United  States  naval  radio  system 
makes  me  believe  it  entirely  practicable  for  governments  to  place 
their  wireless  systems  in  the  service  of  the  press — and  not,  of 
course,  from  a  commercial  motive,  but  from  the  patriotic  and 
quite  as  legitimate  motive  of  promoting  world-interests. 

Wireless  is  still  in  its  infancy,  and  yet  today  Hawaii  can  talk 
with  Paris.  If  necessary,  we  could  tonight  put  a  message  into 
that  barred  capital  of  Soviet  Russia  which  is  under  the  shadows 
of  mystery  almost  as  deep  as  those  which  once  shrouded  the  For- 
bidden City.  During  the  war  our  navy  operators  here  heard 
French  operators  on  a  lofty  tower  in  Bordeaux,  and  German 
operators  signalling  from  the  masts  at  Nauen. 

Establishment  of  press  wireless  around  the  world,  with  the 
governments  providing  traffic  facilities,  means  three  principal 
prior  things : 

First,  agreement  by  the  governments  that  they  will  do  it. 
Secondly,  the  erection  of  wireless  stations  at  many  points  and 
the  enlargement  and  strengthening  of  other  stations.  Thirdly,  the 
development  of  news  exchange  agreements  and  contracts  be- 
tween existing  news  agencies,  and  probably  an  international  news 
agency  to  supervise  the  great  system.  And  the  government  serv- 
ice should  be  so  developed  that  the  individual  correspondent 
would  be  able  to  file  his  dispatches  without  danger  of  being  choked 
off  or  crowded  out  by  the  big  agencies. 

Such  a  plan  might  seem  Utopian  were  it  not  for  our  expe- 
rience in  Hawaii  with  the  use  of  the  United  States  navy  radio 
system.  By  act  of  congress,  the  facilities  of  the  navy  wireless 
have  been  made  available  to  American  newspapers  and  news 
agencies,  and  the  comparatively  short  time  this  has  been  in  opera- 
tion has  proved  a  boon  to  the  local  dailies. 

We  have  found  the  navy  officers  and  staff  charged  with  the 
duty  of  handling  this  traffic  keenly  alive  to  its  importance,  deeply 
interested  in  perfecting  the  technical  side,  and  with  their  imagi- 
nations stirred  by  the  possibilities  for  development  of  this  mys- 
terious force  which  can  fling  the  words  of  men  instantly  to  im- 
mense distances,  to  be  read  by  millions  of  people  we  shall  never 
see  but  whose  interests  more  and  more  are  becoming  identical 
with  ours. 


438      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  local  staff  and  equipment  of  the  navy  radio  can  handle 
with  ease  27,000  words  a  day.  You  have  perhaps  noticed  that 
during  the  sessions  of  the  Congress  we  have  been  printing  an 
augmented  telegraphic  service.  In  addition  to  the  regular  daily 
news  report  of  the  Associated  Press,  we  are  getting  more  than  a 
thousand  words  extra  a  day  from  the  Associated  Press,  and  the 
Chicago  Tribune,  recognizing  the  importance  of  this  congress, 
has  enterprisingly  given  a  three  thousand  word  daily  report  es- 
pecially compiled  by  its  syndicate  service.  All  of  this  has  been 
handled  efficiently  by  the  navy  radio  here — more,  it  was  handled 
without  serious  delay  or  interruption  even  when  we  were  getting 
play-by-play  bulletins,  every  few  minutes,  on  the  world-series 
baseball  at  New  York  last  week. 

It  seems  to  me  that  governments  may  well  expend  some  of  the 
great  sums  they  will  save  by  limitation  of  armaments  in  develop- 
ing wireless  press  service.  It  would  not  take  many  of  the  mil- 
lions of  dollars  which  go  into  dreadnoughts,  to  build  stations  and 
establish  operating  staffs  sufficient  to  cover  the  globe. 

Such  a  plan  as  is  herewith  suggested  would  not  necessarily 
conflict  with  the  legitimate  business  of  commercial  cable  and 
wireless  systems.  As  international  business  grows,  these  are 
finding  their  facilities  taxed  in  the  straight  commercial  traffic. 
Some  of  them  frankly  do  not  want  to  handle  press  service. 

Nor  do  I  propose  any  system  to  tear  down  the  large  news- 
gathering  and  distribution  agencies  whose  development  is  really 
among  the  wonders  of  the  world.  Today  we  have  a  close  and 
cordial  cooperation  between  the  Associated  Press  and  the  United 
States  navy  radio  in  bringing  world-news  to  Hawaii,  and  I  have 
no  doubt  that  same  cordial  spirit  could  be  maintained  with  in- 
ternational systems. 

In  peace-time — and  this  whole  congress  is  an  illustration  of 
the  hope  that  peace  may  continue — in  peace-time  the  govern- 
ment wireless  can  easily  handle  an  immense  press  traffic.  The 
United  States  navy  plant  and  the  staff  here  can  handle  a  much 
larger  volume  of  traffic  than  it  is  now  called  upon  to  handle. 
With  the  increase  in  number  of  wireless  stations,  and  the  steadily 
improving  service  which  the  fertile  invention  and  the  enthusiastic 
industry  of  wireless  experts  are  developing,  it  will  become  more 
and  more  easy  to  flash  tens  of  thousands  of  words  a  day  around 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         439 

the  world.  That  opens  to  the  newspaperman  such  a  vista  of 
possibiHties  that  it  seems  indeed  like  a  dream.  But  a  great  part 
of  that  dream  has  already  come  true  in  this  part  of  the  Pacific. 


FIELD  OF  SERVICE  FOR  THE  PAN-PACIFIC  PRESS 
CONFERENCE 


By  LoRRiN  A.  Thurston, 
Proprietor,  Honolulu  Advertiser. 

"'Oo's  the  bloke?" 

"  'Ee's  a  stranger." 

"  'Eave  a  'arf  a  brick  at  'im !" 

(From  a  supposititious  conversation  between  two  English  la- 
borers concerning  a  passerby.) 

The  foregoing  is  illustrative  of  a  trait  in  human  nature — an 
innate  feeling  that  every  stranger  is  an  enemy. 

It  is  doubtless  an  inheritance  from  the  days  of  the  "cave  era," 
when  man  was  a  "beast  of  prey,"  taking  what  he  could  and  hold- 
ing what  he  took — when  he  was  strong  enough  to  do  so. 

It  is  a  survival  from  the  days  of  uncurbed  individualism, 
when  "might  was  right" — when  every  man's  hand  was  against 
every  other  man. 

In  these  twentieth  century  days,  mankind  has  progressed  to 
the  extent,  at  least,  that  all  other  men  are  not  necessarily  enemies ; 
that  some  may  even  be,  prima  facie,  friends — those,  for  example, 
of  the  same  family,  clan,  and,  more  latterly,  of  the  same  nation — 
although  it  is  historically  but  of  yesterday  that  the  Scot  and 
Briton  looked  askance  at  one  another,  and  even  the  "hielander" 
and  the  "lowlander"  of  "bonny  Scotland"  were  each  the  legiti- 
mate prey  of  the  other ;  and  the  warm  sentiment  with  which,  on 
general  principles,  a  south-of-Irelander  still  regards  the  En- 
glish needs   no  elaborate  proof. 

The  millenium  is  not  in  sight.  It  is  not  even  within  hearing 
distance  over  the  horizon,  nor  within  signaling  distance  by  wire- 
less! 

It  is,  however,  conceivable  that  the   friendliness  which  has 


440       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

in  course  of  time  expanded  from  family  to  clan,  from  clan  to  na- 
tion, to  some  extent,  to  nations  of  kindred  blood  or  principles, 
can  be  extended  to  nations  not  of  the  same  race  origin,  or  who 
have  been  nurtured  to  revere  different  ideals ! 

It  is  an  axiom  that  "like  produces  like." 

That  acquaintance  begets  friendliness. 

"Pan-Pacificism"  as  evidenced  in  and  through  the  "Pan- 
Pacific  Union"  is  the  visible  manifestation  of  a  spirit — ^a  senti- 
ment; and  that  spirit — that  sentiment  is,  that  friendliness  begets 
friendliness — friendliness  evolves  cooperation,  and  cooperation 
results  in  progress. 

The  great  distances  between  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  and, 
until  recently,  the  scarcity  of  speedy  steamers  and  the  complete 
absence  of  cables  and  wireless,  prevented  communication  be- 
tween the  countries  bordering  thereon ;  knowledge  of  what  was 
transpiring  across  the  ocean  and  intimate  acquaintance  between 
citizens  of  the  Occident  and  the  Orient,  almost  as  completely  as 
though  the  respective  countries  had  been  located  in  separate 
worlds. 

No  better  evidence  is  required  of  the  recent  remoteness  of 
Hawaii  from  the  other  Pacific  countries,  and  they  from  each 
other,  than  the  fact  that  the  news  of  the  election  of  President 
McKinley  came  to  Honolulu  by  a  steamer  sailing  from  Yoko- 
hama, Japan,  and  the  news  that  President  Cleveland  intended  to 
restore  the  Hawaiian  monarchy  reached  Hawaii  by  a  steamer 
sailing  from  Victoria,  Canada,  and  the  news  of  the  recognition 
of  the  provisional  government  of  Hawaii  by  the  United  States 
reached  Hawaii  by  a  steamer  sailing  from  Auckland,  New  Zea- 
land. 

During  the  past  two  decades  communication,  both  steam  and 
electric,  across  the  Pacific  has  rapidly  developed;  but,  until  a 
chance  visitor — one  Alexander  Hume  Ford — breezed  into  Hono- 
lulu, well  within  that  period,  but  little  advance  had  been  made  in 
the  bringing  together  of  the  peoples  of  the  Pacific. 

Whether  Ford  evolved  the  spirit  of  "Pan-Pacificism" — the 
spirit  of  friendliness — of  co-operation — of  progress,  out  of  his 
own  inner  consciousness,  or  whether  he  crystalized  it  out  of  the 
balmy  breezes  and  friendly  atmosphere  of  Hawaii,  has  not  been 
revealed;  but  as  a  matter  of  historical  fact,  the  gentleman  was 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         441 

soon  in  full  cry  upon  a  scent  which  led  to  a  shrine  dedicated 
to  friendliness  entitled  "The  Hands  Around  the  Pacific  Club." 

After  spending  some  months  in  Honolulu  proclaiming  the 
virtues  of  this  organization  to  a  somewhat  skeptical  community, 
remindful  of  the  voice  of  the  prophet  crying  in  the  wilderness, 
Ford,  not  a  bit  discouraged  or  abashed,  departed  on  a  swing 
around  the  grand  circuit  of  the  Pacific,  taking  in  New  Zealand, 
Australia,  the  Philippines,  China  and  Japan. 

The  only  credentials  which  he  carried  were  his  own  optimistic, 
almost  beatific  enthusiasm  and  a  letter  from  the  governor  of 
Hawaii  couched  in  somewhat  general  terms,  to  the  effect  that 
the  writer  thought  that  Ford  was  "all  right." 

In  the  course  of  a  year  or  so  Ford  returned  to  Honolulu — 
not  with  a  string  of  scalps  at  his  belt,  but  with  a  sheaf  of  en- 
dorsements of  the  "Hands  Around  the  Pacific"  ideal,  by  high 
officials  and  public  organizations  of  the  several  countries  named, 
where  branches  of  the  new  organization  had  been  established  by 
him.  A  natural  inquiry  was :  "What  is  there  in  this  for  Ford  ?" 
Honolulu  has  long  ago  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  there  is 
nothing  in  it  for  Ford — nothing  except  the  "joy  of  service"  and 
the  exhilaration  incident  to  accomplishment. 

This  brilliant  beginning  of  a  movement  which  has  finally 
evolved  into  the  Pan-Pacific  Union,  was  due  to  Ford's  intense 
enthusiasm,  patent  sincerity  and  unflagging  energy ;  but  even  these 
qualities,  combined  as  they  were,  with  his  magnetic  and  almost 
uncanny  faculty  of  setting  other  people  to  work,  would  not 
have  succeeded  in  galvanizing  the  traditional  lethargy  of  the  East 
into  action,  if  it  had  not  been  that  the  time  was  ripe  for  just  such 
a  movement. 

That  the  time  was  ripe,  is  evidenced  by  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  spirit  of  "Pan-Pacificism"  has  taken  hold  and  "friendly  co- 
operation" become  the  slogan  of  all  the  Pacific  countries  which 
have  come  within  the  sphere  of  the  spirit. 

There  seems  to  have  come  into  the  Pacific  world — spontaneous- 
ly— like  unto  a  new  creation — the  feeling  that  the  old  policies  of 
aloofness — of  isolation — of  "every  man  for  himself  and  the  devil 
take  the  hindermost,"  are  obsolete. 

The  feeling  that  friendliness  and  co-operation  were  to  lead 
the  Pacific  nations  out  of  the  wilderness  of  suspicion  and  doubt, 


442      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

seems  to  have  been  just  beneath  the  surface,  awaiting  the  magic 
touch  which  should  crystaHze  this  latent  sentiment  into  realization 
and  action — and  this  touch  was  supplied  by  Ford. 

So  much  for  the  animating  cause  and  the  avenue  through 
which  "Pan-Pacificism"  has  arrived  at  its  present  position  of 
beneficent  activity. 

It  is  easy  to  formulate  generalities  and  express  appreciation 
of  good  intentions ;  but  "the  proof  of  the  pudding  is  in  the  eating 
of  it,"  and  one  fact  is  worth  a  hundred  theories. 

I  wish  to  place  on  record  a  concrete  instance  of  accomplish- 
ment directly  due  to  the  Pan-Pacific  Union,  which  would  not  have 
occurred  but  for  the  existence  of  that  organization,  which  ap- 
pears to  me  to  justify  all  of  the  time,  effort  and  expense  which 
has  been  expended  upon  its  organization  and  maintenance. 

In  October,  1920,  a  most  disturbing  condition  of  affairs  exist- 
ed in  Hawaii,  with  possibilities  of  developing  in  such  manner 
as  to  intensify  already  existing  race  suspicion,  leading  even  to 
possible  international  friction. 

Following  the  war  spirit  engendered  on  the  mainland  against 
the  German  newspapers  and  schools  and  the  propaganda  carried 
on  through  them,  the  sentiment  had  become  prevalent  in  Hawaii 
that  the  local  so-called  "Language  Schools"— chiefly  Japanese — 
should  be  abolished  or  radically  controlled. 

An  attempt  to  accomplish  this  through  the  local  Legislature 
of  1918,  excited  so  much  opposition  on  the  part  of  those  who 
would  be  affected  thereby,  that  the  proposed  legislation  failed. 

Instead  of  settling  the  question  this  failure  to  secure  action 
aggravated  the  situation  and  the  avowed  determination  was  ex- 
pressed throughout  the  Territory  that  Language  Schools  should 
and  must  be  abolished. 

The  Attorney  General  and  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of 
Honolulu,  the  leading  civic  organization  of  the  Territory,  caused 
drafts  of  bills  for  this  purpose  to  be  drawn  and  published. 

There  was  no  sign  of  abatement  of  opposition  to  the  pro- 
posed measures  and  there  seemed  no  prospect  for  settlement  of 
the  issue  except  upon  a  basis  which  would  leave  a  permanent 
feeling  of  resentment  in  a  large  part  of  the  community  against 
the  ruling  element  thereof,  based  upon  the  beliefs  that  the 
former  had  been  unjustly  and  unfairly  dealt  with. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         443 

A  special  term  of  the  Legislature  was  already  in  session  and 
the  anti-Language  School  bills  under  consideration. 

At  this  stage  of  events  a  "Pan-Pacific  Banquet"  was  held  at 
the  International  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  in  Honolulu. 

Upon  this  particular  occasion  the  threatening  aspect  of  the 
Language  School  question  rippled  the  placid  surface  of  the  inter- 
national pool  somewhat  more  than  usual,  and  out  of  the  discus- 
sion there  was  evolved  a  plan  between  certain  of  the  Japanese 
and  some  of  the  Americans  present,  by  which  it  was  hoped  that 
a  friendly  settlement  of  the  issue  might  be  promoted. 

The  initiative  was  taken  by  the  Japanese  and  the  ground  work 
of  a  regulatory  legislative  act  suggested. 

This  was  presented  the  next  day  to  a  meeting  of  the  Ameri- 
can Chamber  of  Commerce  which  had  been  especially  convened 
to  consider  the  bills  which  had  been  drafted  by  its  own  com- 
mittee. 

The  chamber  debated  its  own  bill  and  the  proposition  sub- 
mitted by  the  Japanese  for  several  hours  and  adjourned  without 
action. 

Four  days  later  it  met  again  and  received  in  confirmation  of 
the  original  proffer  a  written  draft  of  a  bill  to  carry  the  original 
proposition  into  efifect,  accompanied  by  a  letter  signed  by  a  com- 
mittee of  24  Japanese  residents  of  Honolulu,  representing  the 
business,  financial,  professional,  and  religious  leadership  of  the 
community  of  that  nationality,  and  the  editors  of  three  of  the 
daily  Japanese  newspapers  published  in  Honolulu,  asserting  that 
they  were  responsible  for  the  proposed  act  and  would  support 
its  enactment  and  execution. 

As  a  result  of  this  action,  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  by  a 
vote  of  5  to  1  endorsed  the  measure  presented  by  the  Japanese  in 
place  of  that  presented  by  its  own  committee,  and  recommended 
its  enactment  by  the  Legislature. 

The  bill  was  forthwith  introduced  into  the  Legislature. 

A  public  hearing  was  given  thereon  by  the  committee  to  whom 
it  was  referred  at  which  the  community  was  invited  to  express 
its  views.    This  was  freely  done  for  an  entire  forenoon. 

The  ultimate  result  was  that  the  senate  passed  the  bill  which 
had  been  offered  by  the  Japanese,  by  a  unanimous  vote  and  the 
house  of  representatives  by  a  vote  of  approximately  5  to  1  and 
the  measure  was  signed  by  the  Governor. 


444      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  law  contains  many  details — prescribed  the  time  and  hours 
of  sessions;  subjected  the  curriculum  to  the  control  of  the  local 
board  of  education;  required  the  schools  and  teachers  to  be  li- 
censed, the  latter  to  be  subject  to  the  ability  of  the  teachers  to 
pass  an  examination  in  speaking  and  writing  the  English  lan- 
guage and  in  knowledge  of  the  American  Constitution  and  his- 
tory and  of  the  ideals  of  democracy. 

The  same  Japanese  committee  which  had  originally  proposed 
the  legislation  then  took  up  with  the  territorial  board  of  education 
the  question  of  securing  special  instruction,  at  the  expense  of 
the  language  school  teachers,  in  the  subjects  upon  which  they 
were  required  to  pass  an  examination. 

The  board  of  education  co-operated  with  great  energy  and 
friendliness,  such  instruction  beginning  early  in  this  year  1921. 

On  July  1st  last  the  required  examinations  were  taken  by  ap- 
proximately 300  Japanese  language  school  teachers,  besides  those 
of  other  nationality  and  a  large  majority  of  them  passed  and 
were  duly  licensed. 

The  language  school  teachers  affected  by  this  law  have  ex- 
pressed themselves,  practically  unanimously,  as  being  highly  ap- 
preciative of  the  fair  and  friendly  treatment  accorded  them  by 
the  educational  authorities  of  the  territory  and  the  American 
community  has  been  more  than  pleased  at  the  prompt  acquies- 
cence and  manifest  sincerity  of  the  language  school  authorities 
involved.  It  is  even  reported  that  some  of  the  teachers,  through 
the  medium  of  their  studies,  have  been  converted  from  imperial- 
ism into  enthusiastic  advocates  of  a  democratic  form  of  govern- 
ment. 

Through  the  medium  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union's  method  of 
discussion  across  the  table  and  "getting  together"  in  friendly  co- 
operation, a  question  which  a  year  ago  seriously  threatened  the 
peace  of  mind  of  this  community  with  the  possibility  even  of  its 
affecting  international  relations  has  been  amicably  and  satisfac- 
torily settled. 

While  all  of  the  issues  now  pending  between  Pacific  countries 
cannot  be  settled  as  easily  or  as  promptly  as  was  the  language 
school  question  in  Hawaii,  the  principles  involved  in  the  settle- 
ment of  this  question  are  equally  applicable  to  the  larger  and 
more  serious  issues  now  pending  or  which  may  hereafter  arise. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         445 

The  spirit  of  "Pan-Pacificism" — that  is,  the  spirit  of  settHng 
differences  by  friendly  face  to  face  consultation  and  mutual  co- 
operation, will  not  immediately  bring  the  millennium,  but  it  offers 
a  better  and  more  hopeful  method  of  settling  international  differ- 
ences and  preventing  war  than  any  other  method  yet  proposed. 

"Friendly  consultation  and  mutual  cooperation"  is  a  slogan 
worthy  of  the  earnest  and  enthusiastic  support  of  this  organiza- 
tion. 

I  trust,  hope  and  believe  that  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  organiza- 
tion this  day  formed  will  be  an  added  and  potent  influence  in 
advancing  the  beneficent  objects  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union. 


OPEN  DIPLOMACY,  THE  HOPE  OF  THE  PACIFIC 

PRESS 


By  HOLLINGTON   K.   TONG, 

Peking  editor  of  the  Review  of  the  Par  East,  Director  of  the 

North  China  Star  of  Tientsin,  representative  of  the  Peking 

and  Tientsin  newspapers  and  of  the  Commercial  Press. 

of  Shanghai  and  the  North  China  Daily  Mail 

of  Tientsin. 

In  three  weeks'  time  a  conference  of  international  significance 
called  by  President  Warren  G.  Harding  will  be  held  at  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  to  consider  the  Pacific  questions  and  the  advisability 
of  the  reduction  of  armaments  of  the  leading  nations.  More 
than  one  hundred  Chinese  delegates  and  experts  are  now  on  their 
way  to  the  Capital  of  the  United  States,  and  Japan  is  sending 
twice  that  number  of  officials  to  attend  the  conference.  Other 
participating  nations  are  taking  a  similar  great  interest  in  the 
Washington  meeting.  The  importance  of  the  forthcoming  event 
in  America  is  self-evident.  If  this  important  Washington  con- 
ference is  to  be  successful,  the  principle  of  open  diplomacy  must 
be  religiously  observed  by  those  who  are  to  participate  therein. 

The  press  on  the  other  side  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  has  repeat- 
edly expressed  its  hope  that  at  the  coming  Washington  meeting 
parlor  discussions  would  not  be  resorted  to,  that  all  of  its  pro- 
ceedings would  be  thrown  open  to  the  public  as  far  as  advisable 


446      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

and  that  whatever  secret  understandings  that  might  be  pre- 
viously entered  into  would  not  be  recognized  as  having  bind- 
ing force.  It  has  uttered  a  warning  against  the  repetition  of  the 
secret  diplomacy  which  has  usually  characterized  the  decisions 
of  vital  questions  at  international  conferences  in  the  past.  With- 
out exception,  all  the  newspapers  in  China  are  unanimous  in 
voicing  their  wish  for  the  adoption  of  open  diplomacy  as  the  car- 
dinal principle  of  the  Washington  conference,  and  looking  for- 
ward to  that  conference  openly  to  lay  down  righteous  and  just 
lines  along  which  all  international  afifairs  that  may  arise  on  the 
Pacific  should  be  regulated. 

A  section  of  the  press  in  Japan  which  is  liberal  in  its  opinion 
on  international  relationship  is  sharing  the  foregoing  views,  know- 
ing that  the  present  Pacific  situation  is  far  from  being  satisfactory 
and  that  a  little  intrigue  here  and  there  may  start  a  worldwide 
conflict  anew.  Undoubtedly  the  press  on  this  side  of  the  ocean 
may  also  urge  open  proceedings  at  the  Washington  conference 
and  ask  that  the  peoples  of  the  interested  nations  should  be  taken 
into  the  confidence  of  negotiators  in  view  of  the  fact  that  it  is  they 
who  will  have  to  make  good  whatever  promises  that  their  states- 
men may  make.  But  as  yet  it  has  not  taken  a  definite  stand  on 
the  issue.  If  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  can  rouse  the 
press  in  America  and  other  countries  which  are  sending  dele- 
gates to  the  Washington  meeting  to  take  a  renewed  interest  in 
the  matter  of  open  diplomacy  during  the  next  three  weeks,  it  will 
render  a  useful  service  to  humanity. 

As  a  press  representative  from  China,  I  propose  that  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Press  Conference  pass  a  resolution  advocating  statesmen 
of  various  nations  who  are  to  sit  at  the  meeting  reflect  twice  be- 
fore they  would  follow  in  the  footsteps  of  those  who  have  in 
the  past  endeavored  to  arrive  at  secret  understandings.  It  should 
be  sent  broadcast  to  the  Pacific  press  and  especially  to  the  news- 
papers in  America  which  can  exert  more  influence  than  their  con- 
temporaries in  the  Far  East  in  this  connection,  inasmuch  as, 
first  of  all,  the  meeting  place  of  the  conference  is  to  be  in  their 
capital,  and  secondly,  they  are  always  looked  up  to  by  the  Ameri- 
cans as  leaders  of  public  opinion.  Copies  of  the  resolution  should 
be  specially  sent  to  President  Harding,  American  officials  and 
officials  of  the  other  nations  by  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Confer- 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  447 

ence  in  order  to  inform  them  in  advance  of  the  collective  wish 
of  the  Pacific  press.  Unless  this  is  done,  it  will  be  hard  for 
those  newspapers  who  would  like  to  see  intrigues  replaced  by  open 
proceedings  to  realize  their  hope. 

A  statement  concisely  worded  may  be  prepared  by  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Press  Conference  to  support  and  amplify  and  explain 
the  resolution  mentioned.  A  request  for  the  publication  of  the 
statement  as  well  as  of  the  resolution  should  be  sent  to  all  the 
newspapers  in  America,  Canada,  Japan,  China  and  other  coun- 
tries in  order  to  enlist  the  support  of  the  press  world  in  general. 
If  sufficient  public  pressure  can  be  brought  to  bear  upon  those 
statesmen  who  have  made  secret  diplomacy  a  profession  and 
considered  it  as  an  expediency,  the  hope  of  the  Pacific  press  may 
yet  be  realized,  the  Washington  conference  may  go  down  in 
history  as  the  first  international  conference  none  of  the  decisions 
of  which  has  been  secretly  reached  beforehand,  and  the  out- 
standing questions  between  the  Pacific  nations  may  be  solved  to 
the  satisfaction  of  their  peoples,  which  ultimately  will  lead  to  a 
better  international  understanding. 

Not  only  should  the  proceedings  of  the  Washington  confer- 
ence be  guided  by  full  publicity,  but  also  daily  international  inter- 
course should  be  so  regulated.  If  the  nations  can  be  frank  in 
their  relationships  with  their  neighbors,  the  chance  of  war  might 
be  much  minimized.  It  is  the  countries  which  did  not  show  their 
cards  on  the  table  while  engaged  in  negotiations  which  were  ac- 
countable for  the  large  proportion  of  the  past  warfare.  History 
is  full  of  instances  to  illustrate  this  point.  On  the  other  hand, 
if  the  diplomats  concerned  are  open-minded  and  abhor  diplo- 
matic practices,  a  serious  situation  may  be  averted  and  substi- 
tuted by  a  better  relationship. 

Secret  diplomacy  is  often  disadvantageous  to  the  country  or 
countries  which  resort  to  it.  They  cannot  continue  practicing  it 
without  being  found  out.  Once  discovered  they  lose  the  re- 
spect of  civilized  mankind.  Even  if  they  are  truthful  once  in  a 
while  in  what  they  say  or  promise,  the  nations  with  which  they 
have  dealings  would  suspect  them  and  would  refrain  from  plac- 
ing faith  in  them.  This  is  bad  enough  for  them,  but  the  worst 
has  yet  to  come.  Because  of  their  secret  diplomatic  dealings, 
they  usually  keep  back  the  news  concerned  as  long  as  possible. 


448      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  newspapers  which  by  chance  should  get  a  tip  therein  often 
magnify  the  seriousness  of  the  situation  and  call  upon  imagina- 
tion for  assistance  in  writing  up  the  story  when  they  fail  to  get 
from  the  officials  the  true  facts.  Corrections  are  usually  belated, 
and  the  reading  public  as  a  rule  places  more  confidence  in  the  first 
story  than  in  the  subsequent  corrections.  An  ambitious  govern- 
ment may  be  aggressive  in  nine  out  of  ten  cases,  but  when  it  has 
really  rendered  some  disinterested  service  to  mankind  in  the 
tenth  case,  no  one  will  believe  its  altruism.  Its  credit  has  been 
lost,  and  none  would  have  confidence  therein.  Injuries,  direct 
or  indirect,  from  the  loss  of  credit  by  a  nation,  must  be  tre- 
mendous. Is  it  worth  while  to  reap  such  a  disastrous  fruit  from 
the  continued  practice  of  secret  diplomacy?  The  reply  of  an  in- 
fluential section  of  the  press  on  the  Pacific  is  in  the  negative. 
Today  open  diplomacy  is  more  needed  than  ever  before.  The 
future  ahead  of  us  is  rather  gloomy  indeed.  A  new  international 
clash  that  shall  drown  the  world  in  a  lake  of  blood  beside  which 
the  late  blood-letting  in  Europe  will  appear  but  as  a  small  stream 
is  freely  predicted  and  tremblingly  feared.  Some  have  forecasted 
that  the  time  for  the  conflict  between  the  East  and  West  is  also 
fast  approaching.  Small  incidents  which  have  happened  in  the 
past  are  magnified  by  the  yellow  press  of  the  world  out  of  all 
proportion  either  to  their  cause  or  to  their  significance.  Even 
the  thinking  peoples  in  all  countries  become  nervous,  and  are 
afraid  of  the  day  when  another  world-war  may  be  waged.  At 
such  a  time,  the  use  of  a  little  secret  diplomacy  may  cause  the 
explosion  and  bring  woe  to  peaceful  inhabitants  of  God's  earth. 

No  organization,  in  my  opinion,  is  more  fitted  than  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Press  Conference  to  endeavor  to  make  open  diplomacy  an 
accepted  creed  of  international  statecraft  and  to  decide  at  its 
first  session  upon  the  attainment  of  this  object  as  one  of  its  aims. 
With  the  support  of  President  Harding,  one  of  its  honorary 
presidents,  who  cannot  but  be  sympathetic  with  our  motive,  I 
fully  believe  that  this  Press  Conference  may  be  able  to  accom- 
plish something  in  that  direction.  The  rulers  of  other  countries 
may  be  requested  to  lend  their  support  to  the  carrying  out  of 
the  program.  I  feel  certain  that  the  President  of  the  Republic 
of  China  will  be  glad  to  do  all  he  can  in  this  worthy  matter. 

I  sincerely  hope  that  before  the  adjourning  of  the  first  ses- 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         449 

sion  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Conference  a  resolution  will  be  passed  ad- 
vocating the  publication  of  all  the  proceedings  of  the  Washing- 
ton conference  as  wished  by  the  Pacific  press,  and  that  steps 
would  be  taken  by  the  officers  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  to  give 
to  the  resolution  wide  publicity  and  to  try  to  put  that  great 
principle  into  effect  as  early  as  possible.  The  Washington  con- 
ference to  be  held  on  November  11th  should  give  us  an  impetus 
to  work  for  this  object  which  I  believe  must  be  cherished  by  all 
the  newspapermen  who  desire  peace  on  earth  and  good  will 
towards  mankind. 


JAPANESE  PRESS  IN  HAWAII 


By  Y.  SoGA, 
Editor,  Nippu  Jiji. 

The  Japanese  press  in  Hawaii  plays  an  important  part  in 
the  manifold  activities  of  Hawaii  due  to  the  fact  that  it  repre- 
sents a  large  number  of  Japanese  residents  who  constitute  a 
majority  of  the  population  of  these  islands.  The  influence  of  the 
Japanese  press,  whether  in  the  good  direction  or  in  the  bad  direc- 
tion, vitally  affects  Hawaii's  interests,  and  upon  its  attitude  de- 
pend interracial  harmony  and  concord  in  this  integral  part  of 
the  United  States. 

The  Japanese  press  in  Hawaii  is  not  a  small  question,  and 
in  treating  the  question,  I  shall  be  brief,  confining  myself  to  a 
statement  of  principal  facts,  divided  into  past,  present  and  future. 

The  first  Japanese  newspaper  made  its  appearance  twenty- 
nine  years  ago,  in  1892,  when  Nippon  Shuho  or  Japanese  Weekly 
printed  its  first  sheet  by  a  mimeograph  machine.  This  publica- 
tion after  sending  out  a  number  of  editions  changed  its  title  to 
Hawaii  Shuho  or  Hawaii  Weekly,  with  B.  Onome,  superintend- 
ent of  immigration  board  of  Hawaii,  as  editor. 

In  1893  another  weekly  newspaper  came  into  existence,  with 
the  title  of  Hawaii  Shinbun.  It  was  edited  by  Dr.  J.  Uchida  who 
published  about  65  editions.  A  little  later  another  publication 
came  into  existence.  It  was  called  Jukuseiki  or  Nineteenth  Cen- 
tury. 
20 


450      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  appearance  of  the  Jukuseiki  was  followed  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  the  Hawaii  Shimpo  in  1894,  and  Yamato  Shinbun, 
the  forerunner  of  the  Nippu  Jiji,  in  1895.  Shin  Nippon  or  New 
Japan,  another  publication,  appeared  about  the  same  time  or  short- 
ly afterwards.  The  Yamato  Shinbun  was  first  edited  by  H. 
Mizuno. 

About  the  time  the  Yamato  Shinbun  and  Hawaii  Shimpo  came 
into  being,  the  mimeograph  machines  were  discarded  and  their 
places  were  taken  by  types  imported  from  Japan.  At  the  same 
time  the  newspapers  changed  their  editions  from  weekly  to 
daily,  gaining  substantial  increase  in  circulation. 

This  was  the  beginning  of  the  Japanese  press  in  Hawaii.  At 
the  present  time  there  are  in  the  whole  territory  about  twelve 
dailies  and  weeklies  and  several  monthly  periodicals.  The  city 
of  Honolulu  has  four  Japanese  dailies  which  are  the  Hawaii 
Shimpo,  Hawaii  Hochi,  Hawaii  Nippo  and  the  Nippu  Jiji.  Hilo 
city  has  two  daily  and  one  weekly  publications,  while  west  Ha- 
waii has  one  weekly ;  Koloa,  island  of  Kauai,  one  weekly ;  and 
Lihue,  Kauai,  also  one  weekly.  The  island  of  Maui  has  two 
newspapers,  one  being  semiweekly  and  the  other  a  weekly  publi- 
cation. 

Besides  these  newspapers  there  is  the  Jitsugyo-no-Hawaii, 
known  in  the  English-speaking  community  as  the  Commercial  and 
Industrial  Magazine  of  Hawaii.  This  periodical  is  ten  years 
old.  Another  periodical  is  the  Japanese-American  Review  which 
will  soon  come  into  existence  with  objects  to  promote  better  un- 
derstanding between  races  in  these  islands. 

The  Japanese  newspapers  in  Hawaii,  like  all  newspapers,  are 
striving  for  supremacy.  In  the  gathering  and  dissemination  of 
local  news,  in  the  printing  of  world  news,  they  are  engaged  in  keen 
competition.  The  development  of  the  Japanese  press  in  Hono- 
lulu has  been  so  rapid  in  recent  years  that  some  of  the  largest 
Japanese  newspapers  published  outside  of  the  Empire  of  Japan 
are  found  not  on  the  continental  United  States  or  in  Korea  or 
any  other  country  where  Japanese  reside,  but  right  here  in 
Hawaii. 

The  policies  of  the  Japanese  newspapers  in  Hawaii,  while 
differing  from  one  another  in  minor  points,  agree  in  their  es- 
sentials.   As  a  part  of  their  policy  the  Japanese  newspapers  pro- 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         451 

pound  to  Japanese  residents  in  the  territory  what  the  Japanese 
call  "Eiju  Dochaku"  or  permanent  residence  in  Hawaii.  This 
policy  is  pursued  by  the  Japanese  press  not  with  any  sinister 
motive  to  secure  control  on  these  islands  or  to  obtain  domination 
over  other  races,  but  with  the  idea  of  inducing  the  Japanese  of 
becoming  a  part  of  the  land  of  their  residence.  The  Japanese 
press  believes  that  the  longer  the  Japanese  live  in  Hawaii,  the 
more  interested  they  will  become  in  Hawaii's  affairs  and  things 
American,  and  the  more  they  come  to  know  about  America 
the  better  it  is  for  the  Americanization  of  themselves  and  their 
children. 

The  life  of  the  Japanese  press  in  Hawaii  will  not  be  long. 
The  steady  increase  in  the  English-speaking  Japanese  educated 
in  America  and  the  decrease  of  the  older  Japanese  generation 
speaking  the  Japanese  language  will  make  the  publication  of 
Japanese  newspapers  an  unpaying  proposition  within  twenty-five 
years  or  so. 

In  this  comiection  it  might  be  interesting  to  mention  that 
the  Japanese  press  in  Hawaii  is  advocating  the  use  of  Romanized 
Japanese  which  makes  it  possible  for  Japanese  writers  to  convey 
their  sentiment  in  Japanese  phraseologies  reduced  to  Roman 
letters. 

In  order  that  there  may  be  a  better  understanding  between 
Americans  and  Japanese  in  Hawaii,  one  of  the  Japanese  news- 
papers in  Honolulu,  The  Nippu  Jiji,  publishes  its  editorials  and 
news  articles  in  Japanese  as  well  as  in  English,  giving  the  En- 
glish-speaking community  a  comprehensive  view  of  what  takes 
place  in  the  Japanese  community  every  day.  The  Hawaii 
Shimpo,  another  Honolulu  daily,  has  also  recently  started  to  pub- 
lish its  leading  editorials  once  a  week,  in  the  English  language^ 
which  is  very  commendable. 

The  English  section  of  the  Nippu  Jiji  is  largely  devoted  to 
promoting  understanding  between  Japanese  and  American  com- 
munities, and  also  to  the  promotion  of  interest  of  Japanese  chil- 
dren growing  up  into  American  citizens.  In  the  beginning  this 
section  was  not  so  popular  as  it  was  expected,  the  criticism  be- 
ing that  it  was  too  much  for  the  Nippu  Jiji,  which  is  an  eight-page 
newspaper,  to  devote  a  page  for  English  news  items.  However, 
this  criticism  has  now  entirely  disappeared,  parents  of  Japanese 


452       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

children  finding  it  a  valuable  source  of  information  for  their 
children  who  prefer  to  read  and  speak  English  rather  than 
Japanese. 

The  Nippu  Jiji  has  grown  from  a  small  printing  plant  having 
a  circulation  of  a  few  hundred  copies  to  a  large  printing  establish- 
ment holding  the  leading  place  among  the  Japanese  press  in  Ha- 
waii. It  holds  membership  in  the  Associated  Press  through  whose 
services  its  readers  are  given  reports  of  up-to-date  world  events. 
Its  cable  despatches  from  Tokyo  are  noted  for  accuracy  and 
promptitude. 

The  Japanese  press  of  Hawaii  has  been,  and  is  still  to  some 
extent,  very  unpopular  among  certain  elements  in  the  American 
community.  The  unpopularity  was  at  its  height  a  year  or  two 
ago  when  an  unfortunate  event  unavoidably  took  place  in  Hawaii. 

The  popular  belief  among  the  white  people  seems  to  be  that 
the  Japanese  press  allows  anything  to  appear  in  its  columns  be- 
cause no  one,  except  the  Japanese,  knows  what  is  being  said. 
This  is  untrue.  Responsible  newspapers  control  their  utter- 
ances, though  at  times,  they  become  irrelevant  in  an  unguarded 
moment.  They  are  perfectly  aware  of  the  fact  that  what  is 
being  said  in  Japanese  is  rapidly  communicated  to  the  American 
community.  The  Nippu  Jiji,  for  one,  prints  in  the  Japanese  as 
well  as  in  the  English  language  what  actually  takes  place  in  the 
Japanese  community,  withholding  or  camouflaging  nothing.  This 
honesty  is  sometimes  criticized  by  its  Japanese  contemporaries, 
but  the  Nippu  Jiji  could  not  justify  itself  if  it  concealed  or  sup- 
pressed facts  just  because  they  are  unpleasant. 

In  spite  of  all  that  may  be  said  against  the  Japanese  press, 
it  must  be  conceded  that  it  is  a  valuable  factor  in  the  Americani- 
zation work  of  the  alien  Japanese  population  of  the  islands  which 
is  dominating  any  other  single  race  as  far  as  number  is  concerned. 
The  majority  of  the  Japanese  in  Hawaii  do  not  speak  or  read  the 
English  language.  They  must  rely  upon  the  Japanese  press  for 
the  day's  information  relating  to  practically  everything,  from 
the  enactment  of  new  laws  down  to  the  social  customs,  if  they 
are  to  conform,  as  best  as  they  can,  to  the  requirements  of  the 
country  of  their  residence.  The  Japanese  press  is  necessary 
until  such  time  as  the  alien  Japanese  population  shall  have  at- 
tained such  a  degree  of  Americanization  that  its  assistance  is 
no  longer  needed. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  453 

In  support  of  the  statement  that  the  Japanese  press  is  a 
vahiable  factor  in  the  upHft  of  Hawaii,  let  me  cite  some  of  the 
many  instances  of  patriotic  work  it  has  performed.  When  the 
European  war  started  it  was  the  Japanese  press  through  the 
Japanese  language  that  successfully  urged  the  Japanese  residents 
to  enlist  in  the  United  States  army,  to  buy  Liberty  Bonds  and 
War  Savings  Stamps.  It  enlisted  the  support  of  the  Japanese 
in  American  Red  Cross  work  and  other  patriotic  services,  and 
what  they  have  done,  in  my  opinion,  cannot  be  successfully  con- 
tradicted by  any  one. 

We  have  in  Hawaii  a  press  law  enacted  by  the  1921  territorial 
legislature  for  the  primary  purpose  of  controlling  the  utterances 
of  the  foreign  language  press.  While  this  law  has  been  enacted 
particularly  for  the  control  of  Japanese  newspapers  in  Hawaii, 
Ave  hope  it  will  never  find  application  to  any  of  the  newspapers 
in  the  territory. 

The  future  of  America  as  a  nation  depends  in  an  important 
degree  upon  the  measure  of  success  Americans  achieve  in  uniting 
all  the  racial  strains  into  a  single  racial  element — the  American — 
with  a  single  American  aim  with  a  single  American  ideal.  And 
Hawaii  cannot  afford  to  alienate  the  Japanese  press  by  setting 
up  against  them  a  barrier  of  prejudice  and  undeserved  suspicion 
when  they  can  be  used  to  mix  the  Japanese  racial  strain  into 
American  race. 


A  MESSAGE  FROM  THE  CHINESE  PRESS 


By  Jabin  Hsu, 

Representative  of  the  Newspaper  Association  of  Shanghai 
and  the  Chinese  Press,  Shanghai. 

The  press  of  the  Pacific  countries  has  come  to  play  an  im- 
portant role  in  the  regeneration  of  the  intellectual  life  of  China. 
Contact  with  other  nations  shatters  the  crust  of  China's  provincial 
journalism  and  induces  mutation  and  progress  in  the  journalistic 
activities.  As  it  has  been  in  Japanese  newspaperdom,  so  it  is  in 
China.  Contact  with  the  West,  especially  America,  has  brought 
in  new  ideas,  new  forces  and  new  influences,  which  are  helping 


454      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

to  guide  the  public  opinion  of  China's  vast  populace.  In  the 
journalistic  development,  China  is  in  a  transition  from  the  old 
to  the  new,  from  the  conservative  to  the  progressive,  like  her 
other  phases  of  national  life. 

During  this  period  of  transition,  we  are  looking  to  our  neigh- 
bors on  the  Pacific  for  sympathetic  guidance  and  support  and  to 
a  certain  extent  we  have  succeeded.  We  are  copying  all  the 
methods  of  news  gathering,  editing  and  advertising,  which  our 
big  brothers  have  wisely  adopted  through  trying  experiences.  On 
account  of  her  youth  as  a  factor  in  the  intellectual  life  of  a  na- 
tion, China  has  for  some  considerable  extent  allowed  herself  to 
be  led  by  the  opinions  of  the  Pacific  newspapers  and  news  agen- 
cies. During  the  world  war,  newspapermen  in  China  devoured 
everything  that  the  foreign  press  chose  to  feed  the  Orient  but 
the  news  reports  concerning  the  international  relationship  of 
China  as  conveyed  by  the  foreign  agencies  had  their  own  purposes 
to  serve.  In  their  contact  with  the  Pacific  press,  the  Chinese  press- 
men placed  unreserved  confidence  in  the  columns  of  the  news- 
papers circulated  in  the  countries  bordering  the  great  ocean  and 
the  daily  dispatches  furnished  by  news  agencies  of  these  coun- 
tries. 

When  peace  was  proclaimed,  newspapers  in  China  unanimous- 
ly predicted  disarmament  and  the  elimination  of  secret  diplomacy, 
because  the  press  of  the  Pacific  had  repeatedly  declared  that  the 
late  war  was  fought  in  the  interest  of  justice  and  humanity.  The 
Chinese  press  at  that  time  merely  reproduced  the  promises  made 
by  the  statesmen  of  the  day  through  the  Pacific  press  and  other 
machines  of  publicity.  Three  long  years  have  elapsed  and  Chinese 
today  discover  that  they  have  been  misled,  intentionally  or  un- 
intentionally, we  are  not  here  to  discuss.  Chinese  journalists 
have  now  realized  that  press  dispatches  from  their  foreign  col- 
leagues were  distributed  with  ulterior  motives  and  that  the  truth 
of  the  conditions  of  the  nations  of  the  world  was  not  honestly 
told  in  the  Far  East.  Some  believed  that  the  foreign  press  or- 
ganizations are  merely  weapons  in  the  hands  of  their  respective 
diplomats. 

Inconsistency,  of  course,  is  the  greatest  impeachment  with 
which  the  press  of  China  today  charges  the  press  of  the  Pacific, 
for  did  not  the  statesmen  of  Europe  and  America  declare  through 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conjjrence  455 

their  own  press  that  the  war  was  to  end  all  future  conflicts  and 
that  upon  its  successful  prosecution,  each  and  every  person  would 
be  given  a  decent  chance  to  enjoy  life,  property  and  the  pursuit 
of  happiness.  If  the  Pacific  press  expects  to  enjoy  the  confidence 
of  us  all,  the  Chinese  journalists  say,  it  should  be  at  least  con- 
sistent: it  should  review  the  utterance  and  declaration  of  the 
figures  of  world  importance  as  it  publishes  new  facts  about  them. 
If  the  press  of  the  Pacific  is  to  lead  the  opinion  of  the  Orient, 
it  must  necessarily  exercise  such  vigilance  and  supervision  as  are 
required  from  time  to  time  to  check  the  inconsistent  words  and 
acts  of  the  world  politicians.  Under  such  circumstances  and  only 
under  such  circumstances  can  the  world  be  free  from  propa- 
ganda, so  expressively  termed  the  "hookworm  of  journalism." 

The  comment  of  the  Chinese  press  on  the  Pacific  press,  though 
somewhat  too  severe,  is  but  the  outcome  of  the  disease  seeds 
sowed  by  the  foreign  journalists  themselves  and  they  have  only 
themselves  to  thank  for.  But  in  order  to  secure  the  confidence 
and  hence  sympathic  support  of  the  Oriental  newspaperdom, 
the  foreign  press  should  tell  "the  truth,  the  whole  truth  and 
nothing  but  the  truth."  A  press  devoid  of  propaganda  and 
colored  news,  or  "handouts"  and  aimed  for  the  welfare  of  the 
Pacific  as  well  as  the  world  is  the  call  of  the  Orient.  The  faithful 
performance  of  its  duties  by  the  Pacific  press  during  the  world 
crisis  as  is  existing  today  will  accomplish  much  to  disperse  the 
war  clouds  which  even  today  hang  darkly  over  our  horizon.  Such 
being  the  case,  the  reason  why  the  Pacific  press  should  be  clean, 
consistent  and  truthful  more  than  any  other  section  of  the  world 
press  is  more  than  apparent. 

With  the  results  of  the  Versailles  Conference  still  vividly  lin- 
gering in  our  minds,  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  about  to  under- 
go another  experiment  to  solve  the  Pacific  problems  without  re- 
sorting to  arms.  The  time  is  opportune  for  the  journalists  of 
the  Pacific  to  see  to  it  that  the  tragedy  of  the  Versailles  conference 
is  not  reproduced.  It  is  well  within  the  power  of  the  Pacific 
press  to  avert  the  coming  strike.  Secret  diplomacy,  intrigue  and 
entangling  alliance  have  but  one  remedy,  the  bitter  pill  of  wide 
publicity.  The  statesmen  who  are  going  to  participate  in  this 
coming  conference,  like  those  at  the  Versailles  Conference,  have 
announced  to  the  world  through  the  press  their  intention  of  re- 


456      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

lieving  mankind  of  that  terrible  burden  of  deprivation  for  the 
increase  of  armament  and  of  giving  all  the  nations,  whether 
strong  or  weak,  a  square  deal  at  the  conference  table.  The  same 
pledge,  it  will  be  remembered,  was  made  by  the  participants  of 
the  Versailles  Conference  before  its  sessions.  I  trust  that  the 
newspapermen  of  the  Pacific  will  effectively  exercise  their  su- 
preme function  of  making  the  statesmen  make  good  their  prom- 
ises and  prevent  that  great  catastrophe  which  must  follow  if 
a  revivification  of  the  Versailles  Conference  takes  place. 


JOURNALISM  IN  KOREA 


By  I.  Yam  AG  AT  A, 

Edit  or,  Seoul  Press. 

I  am  a  Japanese  and  have  come  from  Seoul  in  Korea  where 
I  am  the  proprietor  and  editor  of  a  little  daily  paper  called  the 
Seoul  Press.  Although  my  paper  is  a  humble  publication  of  only 
four  pages,  yet  Dr.  Williams,  the  President  of  the  World  Press 
Congress,  when  he  visited  Korea  several  years  ago  took  notice  of 
it  and  afterwards  in  a  pamphlet  he  prepared  on  the  press  of 
the  world,  included  it  among  the  hundred  representative  papers 
of  the  world.  I  am  not  so  self -conceited  as  to  think  that  Dr. 
Williams  gave  my  paper  this  distinction  and  honor  because  it  was 
a  good  standard  journal.  On  the  contrary  mine  is  very  poor 
stuff,  containing  not  much  cablegrams  and  highly  paid  special 
articles  and  giving  only  local  news  written  in  the  poorest  Eng- 
lish. Nevertheless  it  is  the  only  daily  paper  published  in  English 
in  the  whole  of  the  Korean  peninsula  and  besides  at  the  time  Dr. 
Williams  visited  Seoul  it  was  the  highest  priced  paper  in  the 
world,  the  monthly  subscription  being  one  dollar  and  a  quarter 
gold.  These  two,  I  think,  are  the  reasons  which  induced  or 
compelled  Dr.  Williams  to  mention  the  name  of  my  paper  in  the 
list  of  a  hundred  great  papers  of  the  world.  Our  distinguished 
president  was  simply  forced  to  give  my  paper,  the  Seoul  Press, 
this  great  honor  for  there  was  no  other  competitor  in  the  field 
for  the  laurel. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         457 

By  the  way,  a  few  years  ago  I  was  obliged  to  abandon  the 
distinction  of  publishing  the  highest  priced  paper  in  the  world. 
I  was  constantly  assailed  by  my  readers  with  complaints  against 
the  high  price  of  my  paper  and  with  demands  for  a  reduction  of 
it.  I  lowered  the  price  to  only  a  half  a  dollar  a  month  a  few 
years  ago  and  though  this  trebled  the  circulation  of  the  Seoul 
Press  I  am  not  getting  so  much  profit  as  I  did  before.  This 
makes  me  think  that  we  journalists  should  combine  ourselves  to 
maintain  a  reasonably  high  price  for  our  papers.  Newspapers  are 
now  a  thing  of  necessity,  as  indispensable  as  our  daily  food. 
They  are  a  necessity,  or  it  may  be  a  necessary  evil.  People  simply 
cannot  do  without  them.  Why  should  not  we  ask  from  them  for 
more  pay  for  our  work  and  labor. 

As  I  have  said,  I  have  come  from  Korea,  a  country  which  is 
still  little  known  by  the  people  of  the  rest  of  the  world.  If  any 
of  you,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  would  like  to  know  about  the  real 
condition  of  Korea  I  should  only  be  too  glad  to  supply  you  with 
correct  information  as  best  as  I  can.  As  this  is  a  congress  of 
journalists,  permit  me,  however,  to  tell  you  something  about  jour- 
nalism in  Korea.  It  is  charged  that  the  Japanese  government  re- 
stricts the  freedom  of  the  press.  This  charge  is  true  to  a  certain 
extent.  No  cities  except  such  big  cities  as  Seoul  and  Fusan  were 
permitted  to  have  more  than  one  newspaper.  In  other  words, 
one  paper  for  one  city  was  the  rule.  This  policy  was  enforced 
by  the  government  partly  for  political  reasons  and  partly  in  con- 
sideration of  the  interest  of  the  people  at  large.  For  some  time 
after  the  annexation  of  Korea  by  Japan  was  carried  out,  there 
prevailed  much  political  unrest,  which  induced  the  authorities  to 
think  it  prudent  and  expedient  to  control  the  press.  At  the  same 
time  the  authorities  thought  it  beneficial  to  the  people  at  large, 
not  to  permit  the  publication  of  too  many  newspapers,  because 
when  there  are  many  newspapers  published  in  a  small  place  it 
is  always  the  public  that  suffer  much  in  consequence  of  the  compe- 
tition and  struggles  for  existence  between  them.  Keen  canvas- 
sing for  soliciting  advertisements  and  subscriptions  must  be  kept 
up  so  that  they  may  live  on  and  the  result  is  that  the  general 
public  are  victimized. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  before  annexation  Seoul  had  four  or 
five  Japanese  and  four  Korean  daily  papers,  all  of  which  were  but 


458       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

poorly  supported  and  had  to  live,  so  to  speak,  from  hand  to 
mouth.  The  result  was  that  not  a  few  instances  occurred  in 
which  the  public  were  made  to  lose.  In  view  of  this  evil  the 
government  put  restriction  on  the  number  of  newspapers  making 
one  newspaper  for  one  city  a  general  rule.  This  policy,  as  you 
will  see,  was  taken  with  the  best  of  intentions,  but  I  do  not 
think  it  was  a  wise  one.  The  government  should  have  left  the 
matter  alone,  leaving  the  public  to  manage  it  by  itself.  The  gov- 
ernment was  too  paternal  and  this  was  resented  by  the  public. 
The  government  has  since  seen  its  error  in  this  respect. 

Two  years  ago  when  the  Government-General  of  Korea  was 
reformed  and  reorganized,  one  of  the  first  things  the  new  au- 
thorities did  was  to  permit  the  publication  of  three  Korean  and 
two  Japanese  newspapers  in  Seoul.  One  of  the  Korean  news- 
papers is  here  represented  by  my  friend  Mr.  Kim.  His  paper  is 
Dong-A  Daily,  or  Eastern  Asia  Daily  News.  It  is  the  best  paper 
with  the  largest  circulation  in  Korea,  being  edited  by  some  of 
Korea's  best  educated  young  men.  It  is  a  great  educational  power 
and  influential  moulder  of  Korean  public  opinion,  and  though  its 
utterances  occasionally  displease  the  Japanese  authorities,  as  out- 
spoken and  radical  opinions  of  young  men  do  older  men,  it  is  a 
great  help  to  the  government  because  through  its  columns  the 
the  authorities  can  sound  and  learn  the  desires  and  ideas  of  the 
Korean  people,  so  that  they  may  frame  such  a  policy  of  admin- 
istration as  will  please  them  and  promote  their  general  interest. 

Journalism  in  Korea  is  still  in  its  young  days  of  development. 
There  are  published  in  Seoul,  capital  of  the  peninsula,  three 
Korean,  three  Japanese  and  one  English  dailies,  besides  a  num- 
ber of  monthly  magazines,  Japanese  and  Korean.  In  the  prov- 
inces about  a  dozen  daily  papers  are  published.  Most  of  those 
metropolitan  and  provincial  papers  are  rather  poor  stuff  and 
their  financial  conditions  are  anything  but  good.  The  Korean 
masses  are  still  too  ignorant  and  too  poor  to  be  able  to  support 
any  big  papers,  in  running  which  much  capital  is  needed.  Be- 
sides, Korea  being  an  agricultural  country  and  her  commerce  and 
manufacturing  industries  being  still  undeveloped,  the  papers  in 
that  country  can  not  as  yet  collect  many  advertisements  and  can 
not  obtain  any  big  income  from  that  source.  Both  subscription 
and  advertising  rates  are  low  and  editors  are  very  poorly  paid. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  459 

As  I  said,  the  Dong- A  Daily  is  the  Korean  paper  enjoying  the  larg- 
est circulation,  issuing,  as  I  understand,  some  forty  thousand 
copies  a  day.  Even  this  paper,  however,  cannot  be  said  to  be 
financially  very  well  off.  As  I  understand,  it  is  run  with  little  or 
no  profit.  Nevertheless,  the  Korean  papers  have  a  great  future. 
Education  is  rapidly  spreading  among  Korea's  rising  generation 
and  along  with  the  economic  advance  the  people  are  steadily 
making  today,  there  is  no  doubt  that  the  number  of  people  read- 
ing newspapers  will  increase  and  correspondingly  the  position  of 
the  press  and  of  those  engaged  in  it  will  be  improved. 
I  thank  you  all  for  listening  to  my  poor  paper. 


THE  NEWSPAPER  IN  KOREA 


By  D.  S.  Kim, 

The  Dong-A  Daily,  Seoul,  Korea. 

(Read  by  Guy  Innes.) 

The  average  English  reader  knows  little  of  the  Korean  news- 
paper in  the  making.  It  is  a  happy  occasion  to  inform  this  great 
gathering  briefly  how  the  modern  Korean  paper  is  turned  out. 

Koreans  use  the  Chinese  characters  as  well  as  the  alphabet  or 
the  phonetic  syllabary,  which  is  composed  of  eleven  vowels  and 
fourteen  consonants  which  is  considered  the  simplest  written  lan- 
guage in  the  world.  Anybody  can  learn  to  read  and  write  within 
a  week.  For  this  reason  there  is  no  illiteracy  in  Korea,  but  a 
Korean  journalist  must  be  a  scholar  in  Chinese  classics  which 
form  the  basis  of  all  written  language  in  the  Orient.  The  Eng- 
lish papers  have  passed  the  stage  when  the  reading  public  en- 
joyed a  long  editorial,  but  in  Korea  it  is  still  in  demand. 

History  tells  us  that  the  Koreans  invented  the  iron  movable 
types  long  before  Gutenberg;  those  old  types  are  still  kept  at  the 
royal  museum  today.  The  Korean  alphabet  has  been  already 
adapted  to  the  linotype  with  which  the  Koreans  in  America  are 
publishing  their  papers,  but  on  account  of  the  Chinese  characters 
it  is  not  practicable  in  Korea. 

Now,  take   the   Dong-A   Daily,    the    leading    newspaper    in 


460       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Korea,  it  has  four  pages  with  sixteen  members  on  the  editorial 
staff  which  is  too  crowded  for  an  English  paper  of  the  same  size. 
One  might  criticise  for  the  waste  of  labor,  but  actually  the  writ- 
ing is  all  done  by  hand,  and  it  must  be  carried  out  by  a  bigger 
force  than  an  English  paper.  The  manuscript  papers  are  ruled 
so  as  to  write  one  word  in  each  square  space  by  which  means 
the  man  in  the  composing  room  may  know  how  many  words  to 
the  line  or  the  whole  article  at  a  glance. 

The  Korean  language  is  like  the  Chinese,  read  up  and  down 
and  from  right  to  left,  so  the  first  page  is  really  the  last  of  a 
four-page  paper.  It  is  a  decided  rule,  that  each  page  has  its 
separate  departments :  The  first  page  is  editorial,  by  all  means 
the  most  important;  the  second,  telegrams,  politics  and  com- 
mercial news ;  the  third,  the  social  or  city  news,  the  written  pic- 
ture of  Korean  life ;  and  the  fourth  page  has  fiction  and  cor- 
respondence from  all  corners  of  the  nation.  Advertisements  go 
at  the  foot  of  the  first  and  last  pages.  The  third  page  is  written 
entirely  by  the  Korean  alphabet,  that  attracts  more  readers  than 
the  other  conservative  pages. 

The  Dong-A  Daily  has  a  rotary  press  that  turns  out  twenty 
thousand  copies  per  hour,  and  the  press  rolls  almost  three  hours 
daily  to  turn  out  fifty  thousand  copies  that  reach  every  corner 
and  nook  of  the  country. 

The  local  news  is  gathered  by  reporters  who  have  been  as- 
signed to  certain  places  and  also  by  news  agencies,  but  the  for- 
eign news  is  supplied  by  the  Reuter  and  Kokusai,  that  tell  very 
little  about  the  news  of  the  different  races  bordering  the  Pacific. 

The  Koreans  want  to  know  more  about  the  news  concerning 
the  Pacific.  In  view  of  this  fact  the  Dong-A  Daily  has  been 
rendering  all  possible  assistance  and  publicity  to  the  Pan-Pacific 
Union,  so  today  the  name  of  Mr.  Alexander  Hume  Ford,  our 
esteemed  chairman  of  the  conference,  is  as  well  known  to  the 
Koreans  as  to  the  Hawaiians,  and  the  full  report  of  the  first 
educational  conference  proceedings  has  been  published  and  now 
the  Dong-A  Daily  is  represented  at  the  first  Pan-Pacific  Press 
Conference,  at  the  threshold  of  a  new  era,  may  we  hope  that  we 
know  each  other  better  than  ever  before  by  the  efforts  of  this 
conference. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         461 

THE  NEED  IN  LATIN-AMERICAN   COUNTRIES 


By  ViRGiLio  Rodriguez  Beteta, 

Representing  the  Press  Association  of 
South  America 

Being  one  of  the  fundamental  purposes  of  the  Press  Congress 
to  estabhsh  and  maintain  closer  relations  between  the  publishers 
of  newspapers  and  magazines  in  every  country,  nothing  could  be 
better  than  the  formation  of  subdivisions  of  this  Congress,  in 
such  a  way  that  this  may  be  the  big  organization  which  will  pre- 
side over  all  subdivisions  and  these  will  serve  with  greater  con- 
centration on  sectional  problems,  and  particular  attention  to  re- 
lations between  peoples  of  one  section  of  the  globe.  The  or- 
ganization of  a  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  to  be  a  part  of  the 
Press  Congress  of  the  World  is,  in  consequence,  not  only  a  logical 
step  in  the  development  of  the  functions  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World,  but  a  step  of  more  than  ordinary  significance  at 
this  time  when  the  eyes  of  the  world  are  turned  expectantly  on 
the  development  of  this  section  of  the  globe. 

The  papers  presented  on  the  occasion  of  the  inauguration  of 
this  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  will  show  how  practical  can 
be  the  promotion  of  understanding  between  the  Pan-Pacific  coun- 
tries to  secure  better  means  of  communication  between  them  and, 
above  all,  to  advance  the  cause  of  world  peace. 

I  will  refer  now  only  to  what  this  section  of  the  Press  Con- 
gress can  accomplish  in  the  case  of  Latin  America.  All  of  the 
Latin  American  Republics  have  coastlines,  both  on  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Pacific,  with  the  exception  of  Uruguay,  Argentina,  Brazil, 
Paraguay  and  Bolivia,  but  even  these  countries  have  considerable 
interest  in  the  Pacific.  In  so  far  as  the  first  four  are  concerned  they 
are  interested  because  of  the  establishment  of  railroad  facilities 
between  Chile  and  the  Republic  of  Argentina  by  means  of  the 
Transandean  Railway.  In  reference  to  the  last  named  of  these 
republics,  Bolivia,  which  has  no  coast,  either  on  the  Atlantic  or 
the  Pacific,  has  its  natural  outlet,  however,  toward  the  Pacific. 

In  spite  of  the  many  commercial  interests  which  Latin  America 


462       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

has  on  the  Pacific  it  can  be  said  that  there  are  but  very  few  rela- 
tions maintained  between  these  countries  and  those  of  the  Ha- 
waiian Islands,  Japan,  China,  Korea,  New  Zealand,  the  Philip- 
pines, Australia  and  other  countries  bordering  the  Pacific  in  the 
Old  World,  countries  which  are  known  to  Latin  America  through 
name  only. 

There  are  in  Latin  American  countries  bordering  the  Pacific 
not  less  than  seventy  wireless  stations,  among  them  one  of  high 
power  located  in  Chile,  but  no  news  is  sent  there  directly  from 
the  Orient.  It  is  relayed  to  California  by  wireless,  from  there  it 
is  sent  to  New  York,  thence  to  South  America  by  cable  from 
Galveston  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  going  to  Vera  Cruz,  Mexico, 
crossing  then  the  isthmus  and  going  from  there  through  all  the 
Pacific  countries  of  Central  and  South  America. 

The  main  task  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Conference  in  connection  with 
the  interchange  of  news  in  Central  and  South  American  news- 
papers should  be  directed  to  obtaining  direct  means  of  communi- 
cation at  the  lowest  possible  rate.  The  dealings  which  rapid  de- 
velopment of  this  Congress  is  maintaining  is  of  great  interest  to 
the  Orient  because  of  the  rapid  growth  which  these  young  coun- 
tries have  made  in  their  fight  for  advancement  against  so  many 
handicaps.  The  Orient  would  be  interested  in  knowing  how  the 
racial  problem  has  been  solved  in  countries  like  Argentina  and 
Uraguay,  how  the  extension  of  a  great  population  of  Negroes  in 
Brazil  does  not  constitute  a  problem  there,  and  how  the  problem 
of  a  large  native  Indian  population,  by  means  of  its  slow  assimi- 
lation with  the  white  populations,  is  being  solved.  You  of  the 
Orient  will  be  very  much  interested  in  knowing  of  the  magni- 
tude and  intensity  of  the  fight  in  which  these  countries  have  been 
engaged  in  their  struggle  to  adopt  the  most  advanced  principles 
of  representation  and  democracy  in  spite  of  poor  preparation 
by  the  masses  and  a  national  independent  life  when  these  countries 
obtained  their  independence  from  Spain.  Finally  you  will  be  as- 
tonished when  you  know  the  progress,  the  figures  of  natural  trade 
and  some  other  striking  results  achieved  by  some  of  these  coun- 
tries. While  a  group  of  them  have  achieved  great  results  and  all 
the  others  are  in  different  degrees  of  development,  all  tending  to- 
ward the  same  results.  The  size  of  the  Latin  American  territory 
which  is  at  least  four  times  that  of  the  United  States  and  is  cap- 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         463 

able  for  a  population  of  four  hundred  million  people,  and  the 
stupendous  number  and  variety  of  natural  resources  foreshadows 
that  Latin  America  is  destined  to  occupy  a  great  position  in  world 
affairs.  And  now  it  is  interesting  to  know  how  the  Orient  will 
be  benefited  from  the  position  which  Latin  America  holds. 

From  the  beginning  of  the  development  of  the  practical  works 
of  the  Pan-Pacific  Conference  in  Latin  America  I  suggest  the  ne- 
cessity of  starting  the  relations  with  it  by  means  of  a  center  of 
communication  established  at  a  point  in  America  which  is  to  be  in 
direct  contact,  both  with  Latin  America  and  at  the  same  time  with 
the  Orient.  There  is  but  one  way  to  begin,  that  is  to  say,  to  take 
advantage  of  an  intermediate  point.  The  situation  is  similar  to 
that  of  two  persons,  who,  in  order  to  become  acquainted  need  the 
services  of  a  third  person  to  make  the  introduction.  Through 
this  point  you  will  speak  to  Latin  America  and  Latin  America  will 
speak  to  you,  it  being  the  center  of  diffusion  and  the  source  of 
the  information  contained  in  your  newspapers,  magazines  and 
pamphlets,  and  vice  versa.  Of  course  this  point  which  is  selected 
must  be  one  which  has  the  best  and  most  rapid  means  of  com- 
munication by  cable,  wireless,  steamer  and  mail  with  both  the 
Orient  and  Latin  America.  Through  this  center  there  would  be 
developed  the  mutual  relations  between  the  Orient  and  Latin 
America,  until  the  time  when  such  communications  could  be  put 
on  a  direct  basis. 

That  is  the  way  for  the  Pan-Pacific  Conference  to  promote  a 
better  understanding  between  the  Pacific  countries  of  Latin  Amer- 
ica and  the  Pacific  countries  of  the  Orient,  and  especially  of  es- 
tablishing better  understanding  between  the  journalists  by  means 
of  communication.  In  so  far  as  the  high  purposes  of  advancing 
the  cause  of  the  peace  of  the  Pacific,  a  phrase  of  deep  sigtiificance 
for  securing  the  peace  of  the  world,  this  branch  of  the  Press 
Congress  should  make  the  task  of  Latin  America  a  very  impor- 
tant one.  There  are  in  the  most  southwesterly  part  of  America 
big  problems  which  concern  the  international  policies  of  all  Latin 
America.  The  "War  of  the  Pacific,"  so-called,  is  the  name  given 
by  history  to  the  war  between  Chile  on  the  one  side,  and  Peru 
and  Bolivia  on  the  other  side  during  the  last  tliird  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  This  war  left  as  a  legacy  a  bitter  dispute  as  to 
frontiers  and  provinces  which  has  been  impossible  to  settle  ami- 


464      The  Press  Congress  of  the  IVorld 

cably  in  spite  of  the  many  efforts  used,  as  much  on  the  part  of 
politicians  and  diplomatists  of  the  contending  nations  as  by  the 
mediation  of  disinterested  countries.  Neither  the  Pan-American 
Congress,  started  nearly  thirty  years  ago  with  the  purpose  of 
bringing  together  the  American  countries,  both  of  Saxon  and 
Spanish  origin,  for  the  settlement  of  international  quarrels  and 
disputes  and  adopting  a  common  point  of  view  in  regard  to  in- 
ternational policies,  or  the  efforts  of  prominent  men  of  thought 
and  good  will  in  North  and  South  America  have  succeeded  in 
stopping  this  acute  quarrel  which  represents  the  most  perplexing 
problem  confronted  by  the  people  of  Latin  America. 

Bolivia  expects,  naturally  enough,  an  outlet  to  the  sea,  of 
which  she  was  deprived  at  the  time  of  the  treaty  after  that  war. 
Peru  demands  the  return  of  two  provinces  which  Chile  retains  in 
her  hands.  Chile  argues  that  she  has  the  right  for  doing  it  and 
the  other  says  that  the  main  condition  of  that  treaty,  which  was 
to  put  the  disputed  provinces  under  the  test  of  a  plebiscite,  was 
not  fulfilled. 

The  settlement  of  the  problem  involved  is  the  main  purpose 
of  any  attempt  to  maintain  peace  in  the  Latin  American  Pacific. 
If  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  could  do  something  that 
would  gain  the  attention  of  the  most  influential  journalists  of  both 
countries  in  order  to  bring  about  a  common  point  of  view  which 
would  result  in  arranging  a  covenant,  it  would  be  an  achievement 
which  would  excel  any  other  one  accomplishment  made  by  the 
many  tentative  Pan-American  Congresses  and  courts  of  arbitra- 
tion. 

Another  point  to  which  the  work  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Con- 
ference could  be  addressed  is  Central  America.  The  separation  of 
these  five  small  republics,  which  at  the  time  of  its  independence 
and  some  twenty  years  after,  were  constituted  a  sole  nation,  is  a 
Latin  American  international  problem  which  in  a  certain  way  op- 
poses the  prestige  and  harmonious  development  of  the  American 
continent  of  Spanish  speaking  countries.  Since  its  independence 
the  most  intelligent  and  patriotic  public  men  have  been  engaged 
in  fighting  at  first  for  maintaining  the  unity  of  the  Republic  of 
Central  America  and  afterwards  for  the  establishment  of  it. 
Since  1885,  on  which  date  Rufino  Barrios  fell  in  battle,  fighting 
gloriously  for  these  ideals,  the  attempts  to  secure  this  union  by 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         465 

means  of  force  were  stopped,  and  has  been  changed  by  means  of 
a  policy  of  diplomacy  and  other  peaceful  means.  In  1911  a  league 
of  Central  American  journalists  was  attempted  for  the  same  pur- 
pose. At  present  they  are  not  engaged  in  re-uniting  the  govern- 
ments, but  mainly  the  peoples.  Big  things  are  being  performed 
worthy  of  the  help  and  support  of  all  honorable  people.  The 
Spanish  and  Latin  American  press  has  offered  at  different  op- 
portunities its  support,  and  recently  most  of  the  papers  of  the 
United  States,  especially  the  papers  and  magazines  of  New  York, 
have  become  interested  in  this  affair  and  have  applauded  that  ef- 
fort. Should  the  Pan-Pacific  Conference  take  upon  its  own  ac- 
count the  task  of  using  its  influence  for  securing  a  definite  moral 
support  of  the  press  of  the  Pacific  it  would  be  very  opportune  and 
it  would  signify  that  they  would  help  the  five  countries  occupying 
the  center  of  the  New  World,  through  which  the  oceanic  com- 
munication was  opened  and  which  is  the  point  at  which  not  only 
the  communication  of  the  Atlantic  with  the  Pacific  was  con- 
summated, but  which  represents  the  bridge  uniting  the  great 
portions  of  North  and  South  America. 


THE  PAN-PACIFIC  PRESS  CONFERENCE 


By  Dr.  Frank  F.  Bunker, 

Executive  Secretary,  Pan-Pacific  Union. 

The  hour  has  come  to  close  this  session  of  the  Pan-Pacific 
Press  Conference  and  with  it  there  terminates  as  well  the  official 
program  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World.  Very  soon,  all 
too  soon  to  suit  those  of  us  who  belong  to  Hawaii,  you  will  begin 
retracing  your  steps.  Very  soon  comfortable  and  commodious 
vessels  and  swift  trains  will  have  carried  you  back  to  your  desks 
and  very  soon  you  will  find  yourselves  in  your  accustomed  places, 
engaged  in  your  accustomed  duties,  meeting  your  accustomed 
associates  and  again  living  your  accustomed  lives.  For  a  brief 
time  you  will  have  slipped  out  of  your  place  in  the  smoothly  work- 
ing machinery  with  which  each  of  you  has  surrounded  himself 


466      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

and  of  which  each  is  an  integral  and  essential  part.  Soon  you 
will  have  slipped  back  into  your  particular  niches,  outwardly  un- 
changed by  your  visit  to  Hawaii. 

While  your  avoirdupois  may  show  some  increase,  neverthe- 
less, I  have  no  doubt,  your  architectural  lines  will  still  bear  suffi- 
cient resemblance  to  your  former  proportions  to  enable  your 
friends  to  recognize  your  silhoutte.  Outwardly,  I  say,  all  will 
be  as  before,  but  inwardly,  I  doubt  not,  there  will  have  come  a 
change  as  a  result  of  new  perceptions,  an  enlarged  outlook,  an 
energizing  vision,  for  you  have  been  seeing  with  the  mind  as 
well  as  with  the  eye. 

The  citizens  of  Hawaii,  with  that  hospitality  for  which  they 
are  justly  famous  (I  can  say  this  without  immodesty  for  I  have 
been  here  not  much  longer  than  yourselves)  have  tried  to  make 
it  easy  for  you  to  see  something  of  nature's  wonders  here  to 
be  found  in  lavish  profusion;  to  gain  some  notion  at  first  hand 
of  Hawaii's  important  occupations;  to  learn  somewhat  of  the 
customs,  lore  and  character  of  the  great  race  of  Polynesians  who 
have  long  inhabited  these  Islands,  and  to  form  some  idea  of  the 
problems  of  labor  and  race  here  to  be  found. 

Although  we  hope  you  will  have  found  these  features  of  suffi- 
cient interest  to  lead  you  to  speak  and  to  write  of  them  as  op- 
portunity arises,  nevertheless,  if  that  inward  change  of  which 
I  speak  has  led  you  to  do  no  more  than  to  observe  and  enjoy 
the  unparalleled  beauties  of  sea  and  land  and  sky,  here  to  be 
found,  your  trip  will  have  fallen  short  of  its  possibilities,  both  to 
you  and  to  us,  for  you  will  have  missed  the  interrelations  of 
things,  the  hidden  meanings,  the  things  which  do  not  appear.  In 
such  event  it  will  be  as  though  "having  eyes  one  sees  not"  and 
"having  ears  one  hears  not." 

That  the  countries  and  states  bordering  the  Pacific  and  in  the 
Pacific  constitute  a  region  having  features  and  characteristics  and 
problems  which  differentiate  it  from  every  other  region  has  been 
recognized  by  many.  Seventy  years  or  more  ago  W.  H.  Seward, 
then  United  States  Senator  from  New  York,  and  later  Secretary 
of  State  under  Lincoln,  in  a  notable  speech  in  the  Senate,  gave 
expression  to  a  remarkable  prophecy  concerning  this  region.  He 
said : 

"Henceforth   European  commerce,  European  politics.  Euro- 


Pan-Pacific  P^^ess  Conference         A61 

pean  thought,  and  European  activity,  although  actually  gaining 
force;  and  European  connections,  although  actually  becoming 
more  intimate,  will  nevertheless  relatively  sink  in  importance ; 
while  the  Pacific  Ocean,  its  shores,  its  islands  and  the  vast  region 
beyond,  will  become  the  chief  theatre  of  events  in  the  world's 
great  hereafter." 

The  fact  that  on  Armistice  Day,  November  11th  next,  there 
convenes  in  Washington  at  the  call  of  the  President  of  the 
United  States  representatives  of  the  principal  allied  and  asso- 
ciated powers  to  consider  the  principles  and  policies  which  shall 
govern  in  and  about  the  Pacific,  is  clear  proof  of  the  fact  that 
in  the  view  of  the  President  of  the  United  States  the  future 
peace  of  the  world  now  turns  on  the  settlement  of  difficulties  in 
the  Pacific.  If  further  proof  of  his  interest  in  the  Pacific  were 
needed  it  would  be  found  in  the  letter  of  greetings  which  he  sent 
to  the  delegates  to  the  Pan-Pacific  Educational  Conference  which 
convened  in  this  city  in  August  last.    Let  me  read  his  letter : 

"The  Pan-Pacific  Congress  on  Education  soon  to  meet  has 
greatly  appealed  to  my  imagination,  and  I  want  to  express  my 
hopes  that  it  will  be  marked  by  a  measure  of  success  that  will 
justify  all  the  hopes  that  have  been  entertained  for  it.  It  seems 
only  yesterday  that  we  thought  of  the  broad  Pacific  as  separating 
two  unrelated  worlds,  now  we  have  come  to  regard  it  as  a  world 
by  itself,  the  greatest  of  neighborhoods,  the  romantic  meeting 
place  of  East  and  West,  where  each  merges  into  the  other  and 
both  discover  that  at  last  the  supreme  interests  of  humanity  are 
common  to  all  men  and  races.  Two-thirds  of  the  earth's  popu- 
lation live  in  the  lands  of  the  Pacific,  numbering  the  oldest  and  the 
newest  of  organized  communities,  and,  characteristic  of  our  times, 
their  mighty  ocean  is  come  to  be  regarded  by  all  of  them  as  a 
bond  rather  than  a  barrier.  In  a  large  way  we  must  feel  that 
the  future  of  the  race,  the  hope  of  creating  a  true  community  of 
men  and  nations  and  civilizations,  each  retaining  its  own  tra- 
ditions, character  and  independence,  yet  all  serving  the  common 
end  of  human  progress  must  greatly  depend  on  the  development 
of  your  fine  ideal  of  a  Pan-Pacific  neighborhood.  With  better 
acquaintance,  more  intimate  interdependence,  riper  mutual  under- 
standings, we  shall  advance  to  the  realization  of  such  an  ideal.  I 
feel  that  your  Educational  Congress  is  one  of  the  most  practical 


468       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

means  of  drawing  these  communities  thus  closer  together,  and 
therefore  have  special  reasons  to  wish  it  well." 

In  this  connection  I  want  also  to  bring  to  your  attention  a 
statement  made  by  Lloyd  George,  uttered  but  a  few  weeks  ago, 
in  discussion  of  the  British-Japanese  alliance.  As  quoted  by  the 
Associated  Press,  he  said : 

"If  the  alliance  with  Japan  could  be  merged  into  a  greater 
understanding  with  Japan  and  the  United  States  on  all  problems 
of  the  Pacific,  that  would  be  a  great  event,  and  it  would  be  a 
guarantee  for  the  peace  of  the  world.  The  problems  of  today 
may  be  in  the  Atlantic.  Yesterday  they  were  in  the  German 
ocean,  and  they  may  pass  tomorrow  into  the  Pacific  and  when 
they  do  the  powers  that  are  most  greatly  concerned  in  the  Pacific 
are  America,  Japan,  China  and  the  British  Empire.  These  four 
great  powers  are  primarily  concerned  with  having  a  complete 
understanding  with  regard  to  the  Pacific.  The  svirest  way  to 
make  a  success  of  any  disarmament  plan  is,  first  of  all,  to  arrive 
at  an  understanding  upon  the  Pacific." 

And  may  I  not  add  also  the  words  of  the  late  President  Roose- 
velt, speaking  to  this  matter  of  the  Pacific  as  a  region  of  signifi- 
cance : 

"The  Mediterranean  era  died  Avith  the  discovery  of  America ; 
the  Atlantic  era  has  reached  the  height  of  its  development ;  the 
Pacific  era,  destined  to  be  the  greatest,  is  just  at  dawn." 

This  area  which  we  are  calling  the  Pacific  region  is  so  big  and 
broad,  so  diversified  in  its  peoples,  its  climate,  its  industries ;  and 
we  in  turn  may  become  so  occupied  with  the  minutiae  of  our 
particular  vocations  that  it  is  easy  to  fail  to  see  the  larger  whole 
and  consequently  to  fail  to  do  our  part  in  bringing  into  harmo- 
nious relationship  the  divergent  elements  to  be  found  therein. 
The  fact,  however,  that  the  Press  Congress  .of  the  World  thought 
it  important  enough  to  meet  here  in  Hawaii  and  that  you  have 
thought  it  wise  to  organize  a  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  to 
carry  forward  lines  of  work  which  have  to  do  primarily  with  this 
region  show  unmistakably  that  you  are  not  blind  to  the  need  or 
to  the  possibilities. 

Fourteen  years  ago  this  vision  of  a  Pacific  region  knit  to- 
gether in  all  of  its  parts  and  its  interrelations  by  friendly  under- 
standing came  to  Mr.  Alexander  Hume  Ford.     Like  many  other 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         469 

movements  which  have  grown  into  powerful  agencies  for  pubHc 
welfare,  the  idea  first  found  lodgment  in  the  mind  of  a  single  in- 
dividual who  had  the  courage  and  singleness  of  purpose  to  de- 
vote his  entire  time  and  energy  to  its  promotion. 

The  attitude  of  Hawaii,  itself,  towards  the  Pan-Pacific  move- 
ment inaugurated  by  Mr.  Ford  has  been  much  the  same  as  that 
which  communities  generally  take  toward  projects  of  like  char- 
acter. At  first  the  feeling  was  one  of  indifference  and  of  in- 
credulity. Then  came  a  period  characterized  by  an  awakening 
interest  followed  by  the  full  endorsement  and  the  active  support 
of  local  persons  of  the  highest  standing.  As  to  the  nations  and 
countries  in  and  about  the  Pacific,  Mr.  Ford  has  secured  for  the 
Union  from  many  the  endorsement  of  their  chief  administrative 
officers  and  the  permission  to  use  their  names  as  sponsors.  Among 
these  countries  are  the  following :  The  United  States  and  Canada 
in  North  America ;  New  Zealand,  Australia,  Java,  the  Philippines 
and  Japan  among  the  Pacific  islands ;  and  Siam  and  China  on  the 
continent  of  Asia. 

Furthermore,  such  is  the  recognition  accorded  the  Pan-Pacific 
Union,  that  Mr.  Ford  succeeded,  through  the  assistance  of  the 
Federal  Bureau  of  Education  and  of  the  Pan-American  Union,  in 
having  the  Department  of  State  of  the  United  States  govern- 
ment, through  its  diplomatic  connections,  extend  to  the  govern- 
ments and  self-governing  colonies  of  the  Pacific,  a  formal  invi- 
tation to  send  delegates  to  the  Pan-Pacific  Educational  Conference 
held  last  August  here  in  Honolulu. 

A  year  ago  the  leading  scientists  of  Pan-Pacific  regions  were 
convened  here  by  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  in  a  conference  of 
great  success,  held  under  the  chairmanship  of  Dr.  Herbert  E. 
Gregory,  Director  of  Bernice  Puahi  Bishop  Museum,  Honolulu. 
Last  August,  as  I  have  just  stated,  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  brought 
together  seventy-five  experts  in  the  general  field  of  education 
under  the  chairmanship  of  Dr.  David  Starr  Jordan.  Copies  of 
the  proceedings  have  just  come  from  the  press  and  will  be  dis- 
tributed among  you.  In  August  or  September  of  next  year  it 
will  bring  to  Honolulu  in  similar  fashion  a  group  of  the  leaders 
of  commerce  and  of  business  drawn  from  Pacific  regions.  Other 
conferences  of  like  character  are  in  prospect  for  succeeding  years, 
all  of  which  are  in  line  with  the  thought  with  which  I  am  sure 


470      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

you  will  agree,  that  amity  and  goodfellowship  among  the  races 
and  nations  of  this  great  region  will  be  conserved  and  stimulated 
by  bringing  together  leaders  in  the  drfiferent  fields  of  human  ac- 
tivity. 

All  of  this  has,  let  me  add,  been  accomplished  in  fourteen 
years  by  the  genius  of  one  man  and  with  the  co-operation  and 
help  of  a  board  of  trustees  of  very  able  and  public-spirited  per- 
sons who  have  had  faith  in  Mr.  Ford  and  in  the  practicability  and 
value  of  his  idea. 

The  educational  conference  recently  held  here,  with  unanim- 
ity and  much  enthusiasm,  recommended  that  the  Pan-Pacific 
Union  take  up  and  carry  forward  important  investigations  which 
it  proposed  and  lines  of  activity  which  it  believes  will  minister  to 
a  better  understanding  among  the  Pacific  nations.  The  Pan- 
Pacific  Union  gladly  acceded  to  its  request,  and  is  expanding  its 
machinery  to  serve  as  indicated. 

This  morning,  as  the  heritage  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World,  you  have  organized  a  permanent  Pan-Pacific  Press  Con- 
ference to  undertake  to  bring  the  peoples  of  the  Pacific  into 
closer  and  better  relationships  through  making  the  way  for  the 
transmission  and  interchange  of  information  easier.  While  main- 
taining its  contact  with  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  you 
have  arranged  to  place  it  under  the  fostering  care  of  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Union.  We  gladly  accept  this  foster  child  under  the 
conditions  which  have  been  proposed  and  will  give  its  nurture  and 
growth  our  sympathetic  and  active  assistance  and  we  hope  that 
two  or  three  years  hence  when  the  second  meeting  of  the  repre- 
sentatives of  the  press  of  the  Pacific  is  held  that  our  child  will 
be  a  lusty  and  vigorous  one  with  lungs  and  a  voice  sufficiently 
developed  to  be  heard  by  the  governments  of  the  nations  of  the 
Pacific  whose  ears  are  sometimes  a  bit  deaf. 

Thus  does  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  seek  to  cooperate  with  any 
and  all  agencies  which  attempt  to  make  of  the  region  of  the 
Pacific  one  wherein  the  minds  of  all  of  our  people  shall  be 
thoroughly  saturated  with  the  spirit  which  prompted  Abram  of 
old  to  say  to  his  nephew  Lot  when  trouble  was  in  prospect: 

"Let  there  be  no  strife,  I  pray  thee,  between  me  and  thee,  and 
between  my  herdmen  and  thy  herdmen,  for  zvc  be  brethren." 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         471 
GETTING  NEWS  IN  AND  OUT  OF  CHINA 


By  K.  P.  Wang, 
Associate  Editor,  the  Shun  Pao,  Shanghai,  China. 

China  is  a  country  where  the  newspaper  has  not  been  fully 
developed  as  yet.  Both  the  news  releasers  and  the  news  readers 
have  not  fully  understood  the  value  of  good  news  service,  and 
hence  the  task  of  the  news  gatherers  is  a  rather  difficult  one. 
However,  as  the  news  field  in  China  is  so  rich  and  abundant,  and 
practically  the  whole  of  which  is  unexplored  yet,  a  conscientious 
and  adventurous  journalist  will  find  his  work  in  China  to  be  one 
of  unsurpassed  fascination  and  of  inexhaustible  inspiration.  It 
was  only  a  few  years  ago  that  the  people  of  the  country  took  jour- 
nalism not  as  a  profession  or  a  profession  of  public  service. 
But  today,  there  is  already  a  group  of  people,  who  have  recog- 
nized the  importance  of  journalistic  work  in  China  and  have  re- 
solved to  devote  their  lifetime  to  serve  the  public  through  their 
pens ;  and  quite  a  number  of  them  can  be  considered  as  real, 
genuine,  and  faithful  journalists,  journalists  who  chose  journalism 
as  their  profession  because  they  have  faith  and  love  in  the  value, 
interest  and  fascination  of  the  work  itself,  and  not  because  they 
take  it  as  a  means  to  achieve  a  certain  selfish  aim  for  themselves 
or  for  somebody  else. 

In  spite  of  the  fact  that  we  have  quite  a  number  of  real  jour- 
nalists in  China,  yet  the  news  service  in  the  country  today  as  a 
whole  has  not  been  proved  satisfactory  or  efficient  at  it  should  be, 
either  because  the  news  releasers  would  not  give  enough  co- 
operation and  assistance  in  putting  out  news  in  a  manner  that 
is  most  prompt  and  most  worthy,  or  because  the  news  gathered 
and  published  does  not  suit  the  taste  of  the  reading  public.  In 
China,  public  organizations,  or  even  government  bureaus,  have 
not  adopted  the  policy  and  have  not  realized  the  advantage  of 
releasing  news  to  the  papers  from  time  to  time ;  and  whatever 
they  release  for  publication,  if  any,  is  either  too  formal  and  un- 
interesting, or  too  brief  and  incomprehensible,  and  in  the  majority 
of  the  cases,  the  news  gatherers  for  the  papers  have  to  go  here 
and  there  to  get  materials  to  supplement  that  released  so  that  it 


472       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

can  be  rendered  into  readable  and  understandable  matter.  Many 
a  time,  news  items  of  public  interest,  the  nature  of  which  is  com- 
mon and  the  significance  of  which  is  not  far-reaching,  have  to  be 
withheld  from  publication  by  the  authorities  concerned,  simply 
because  they  deal  with  the  government  or  government  officials, 
and  as  such,  they  should  be  regarded  as  secret  to  the  public.  It 
is  also  very  common  that  meetings  and  gatherings  of  public  or- 
ganizations, or  important  movements  conducted  by  public  bodies, 
which  by  their  nature  possess  tremendous  news  value,  would  pass 
through  without  being  noticed  and  reported  by  the  papers.  As 
a  rule,  people  in  China  do  not  notify  the  papers  as  to  what  they 
have  done,  they  are  doing,  or  they  will  do,  and  it  is  up  to  the 
papers  to  find  out  these  doings  themselves.  The  institution  of 
getting  an  interview  for  publication  from  a  certain  person  is 
practically  unknown  to  Chinese,  not  because  the  reporters  are 
not  on  the  job,  but  because  the  people  whom  the  reporters  would 
interview  do  not  want  publicity  in  that  way.  People  in  China 
still  hold  the  old  virtue  of  modesty,  and  they  do  not  wish  to  have 
their  names  appear  in  the  papers  if  they  can  help  it,  even  if  the 
appearance  of  their  names,  would  do  them  good  and  would  give 
them  fame  and  credit.  Our  people  at  home  simply  have  not 
been  accustomed  to  that  institution  as  yet. 

Then  again,  the  nature  of  the  news  and  the  style  in  which  the 
news  is  written  have  a  great  deal  to  do  with  the  success  and 
popularity  of  the  papers.  The  study  of  newspaper  readers'  psy- 
chology in  China  is  a  very  interesting  one.  The  majority  of  news- 
paper subscribers  there  do  not  subscribe  for  the  papers  for  the 
news  of  the  day,  but  for  the  so-called  literary  pages.  The  most 
important  feature  for  a  newspaper  to  have  in  China  has  been, 
and  will  continue  to  be  for  the  next  few  years  to  come,  these 
literary  pages,  pages  containing  not  the  news  of  the  present  mo- 
ment, but  the  news  happenings  of  years  ago,  pages  not  contain- 
ing articles  on  current  topics,  but  articles  of  literary  value. 
Anecdotes  concerning  certain  noted  persons  in  the  past  are  al- 
ways more  preferred  than  telegraphic  news  telling  stories  about 
the  present  day  people  who  reside  far  away,  or  describing  current 
events  which  happened  in  farther-ofif  districts  or  countries.  A 
few  stanzas  of  poetry  are  much  more  welcomed  by  the  readers 
than  a  few  articles  on  political  or  economic  problems.    Therefore, 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conjerence         473 

the  main  task  of  the  news  gatherers  of  the  majority  of  the  papers 
in  China  today,  particularly  of  the  papers  in  the  interior  parts 
of  the  country,  is  to  gather  news  not  of  the  present,  but  of  the 
past,  because  that  is  the  only  way  to  keep  the  paper  going,  and 
that  is  also  the  only  way  to  satisfy  the  subscribers.  Then  the 
style  of  writing  must  be  strictly  literary,  and  no  vulgar  expres- 
sions can  be  tolerated,  as  the  Chinese  are  essentially  a  literary 
people,  though  the  number  of  educated  people  is  so  limited.  The 
literary  style  must  be  kept  and  emphasized  throughout  the  whole 
paper,  including  the  news  columns.  Chinese  people  will  not 
read  a  story  which  consists  of  facts  alone,  with  no  opinions  or 
comments  intermingled.  The  more  opinion  the  writer  puts  into 
the  story,  the  more  the  story  will  be  read ;  and  papers  giving  the 
stories  in  pure  narrative  style  will  not  appeal  to  readers  and  hence 
will  not  make  any  success  in  China.  The  American  journalistic 
principle  of  giving  facts  alone  and  no  comments  in  the  news  col- 
umns can  not  be  worked  out  in  China  just  now,  and  most  likely 
will  remain  unworkable  for  a  few  decades  to  come.  The  British 
way  of  treating  news,  that  is :  editorial  opinions  intermixed  with 
news  stories,  is  a  favorite  type  for  the  Chinese. 

However,  the  above  picture  only  gives  a  description  of  con- 
ditions existing  in  the  newspaper  world  of  China  at  large,  and 
principal  papers  having  their  publications  issued  in  newspaper 
centres  like  Shanghai,  Peking,  Canton,  Hankow,  and  Tientsin 
are  being  conducted  more  or  less  according  to  modern  methods 
and  principles.  Let  us  discuss  a  few  minutes  the  ways  through 
which  these  papers  are  getting  stories  for  their  news  columns. 
The  papers  in  these  newspaper  centres,  though  still  publishing 
literary  pages  and  employing  literary  style  for  their  writings, 
are  paying  more  and  more  attention  to  the  importance  and  value 
of  getting  news  of  the  day  and,  by  so  doing,  they  are  gradually 
introducing  into  China  principles  of  modern  journalism.  Now, 
how  do  they  get  news?  That  is  a  question  worth  considering. 
Take  the  Shanghai  papers  into  consideration  first,  as  the  Shang- 
hai papers  are  by  far  the  most  advanced  and  progressive  of  all 
the  papers  in  the  country.  Nearly  all  the  papers  in  Shanghai 
employ  special  correspondents  stationed  in  the  different  princi- 
pal cities,  who  send  in  the  bulk  of  news  to  the  editorial  offices  of 
their  home  papers  generally  through  postal  administration.     A 


474       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

few  rich  papers  and  papers  of  old  standing  provide  a  better 
facility  for  the  public,  however;  the  correspondents  of  these 
papers  would  send  in  the  comparatively  more  important  news 
through  telegraphic  channels.  As  a  rule,  the  papers  possessing 
facilities  of  telegraphic  news  are  more  popular  to  the  readers 
than  papers  without  such  service,  and  the  telegraphic  news  items 
themselves  have  also  been  proved  more  popular  than  items  sent 
through  other  means.  The  most  highly  paid  correspondents  are 
those  who  are  stationed  in  Peking,  and  most  of  them  deserve  the 
highest  merit.  Peking  is  the  greatest  news  centre  in  China,  and 
as  such,  the  responsibilities  of  the  correspondents  towards  the 
papers  of  which  they  are  representatives  are  also  the  greatest. 
In  Peking,  where  the  seat  of  China's  national  capital  is  situated, 
news  items  of  all  description  and  of  all  nature  are  produced 
nearly  every  minute,  and  it  takes  men  of  big  calibre,  clear  mind, 
keen  judgment,  and  learned  farsightedness  to  sort  out  all  the 
news  that  comes  to  him,  to  pick  the  true  and  good,  and  to  send  it 
back  to  their  home  papers.  Correspondents  stationed  at  other 
cities  do  not  play  such  an  important  part  as  those  at  Peking,  but 
they  also  make  valuable  contributions  to  the  papers  from  time  to 
time. 

For  local  news,  practically  all  Shanghai  papers  have  good 
services,  both  by  their  own  staff  and  by  professional  reporters. 
As  Shanghai  is  the  commercial  centre  of  China,  Shanghai  papers 
give  more  commercial  news  of  China  than  all  the  papers  in  the 
country  combined.  Most  of  the  papers  have  specials  dealing  with 
economic  news,  and  very  often  learned  scholars  are  employed  as 
financial  editors.  These  financial  editors  are  in  close  and  con- 
stant touch  with  the  leading  merchants,  bankers,  trade  commis- 
sioners, shipping  and  customs  officials,  guilds  and  chamber  of 
commerce  of  the  city  and  also  of  other  parts  of  the  country,  so 
that  their  source  of  financial  news  will  never  become  exhausted. 
Besides  these  financial  editors,  there  are  special  reporters  who 
are  always  ready  to  be  on  the  job  for  any  reporting  work  at  any 
time.  Social  news  and  news  of  human  interest  are  abundant  in 
Shanghai,  and  taken  as  a  whole,  Shanghai  papers  generally  put 
out  good  and  interesting  news  every  day.  A  few  of  these  papers 
are  also  conducting  engraving  and  photographic  departments,  and 
hence  they  have  the  advantage  over  other  papers  by  issuing  il- 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         475 

lustrated  pages.  In  Shanghai,  we  have  a  special  class  of  news- 
paper workers  known  as  professional  reporters.  These  profes- 
sional reporters  are  not  employees  of  any  paper,  nor  are  they 
employed  by  any  news  agency  or  news  syndicate.  They  are  a 
class  by  themselves.  During  the  day  they  would  go  out  and  get 
whatever  news  they  can,  and  towards  the  evening  or  late  in  the 
afternoon,  they  would  meet  together  at  certain  appointed  tea 
houses  or  restaurants  to  talk  over  what  each  has  gathered  in  the 
day.  They  would  exchange  the  news  thus  gathered,  one  with 
another,  and  each  would  use  his  best  style  to  render  the  materials 
thus  exchanged  into  story  form,  and  when  these  stories  are  sent 
to  the  papers  and  published  the  next  day,  they  get  their  pay  due 
to  them  from  the  papers  in  which  their  stories  appear  according 
to  proper  basis  of  valuation. 

Next  to  Shanghai,  we  have  another  city  of  great  journalistic 
importance,  namely  Peking.  Peking  is  an  important  city,  not  be- 
cause of  its  abundance  of  news,  but  because  of  its  peculiarity  of 
being  a  city  of  news  agencies  instead  of  newspapers.  There  are 
upwards  of  thirty  news  agencies  in  Peking,  publishing  news  in 
Chinese,  English,  French,  Russian  and  Japanese  languages,  con- 
ducted by  peoples  and  organs  of  different  nationalities,  including 
Chinese,  American,  British,  French,  Russian  and  Japanese.  It 
is  these  news  agencies  instead  of  newspapers,  which  are  carrying 
on  the  important  function  and  duty  of  getting  the  news.  In  fact 
many  of  the  newspapers  in  Peking  do  not  have  any  reporters  of 
their  own  to  run  after  news  and  whatever  they  published  in  the 
morning  is  just  reprinted  from  whatever  they  have  been  supplied 
by  the  news  agencies  the  preceding  evening.  Even  some  of  the 
correspondents  of  Shanghai  papers  at  Peking  have  to  depend 
upon  these  agencies  for  news,  which  can  be  secured  by  regular 
subscriptions.  These  reports  are  generally  issued  at  7  or  8 
o'clock  in  the  evening  and  soon  after  are  distributed  to  various 
newspapers,  all  edited  and  ready  for  print  for  next  morning's 
paper.  The  subscription  list  is  open  to  all  persons  who  desire 
to  get  news  one  night  earlier,  and  as  a  rule,  the  subscription  list 
of  private  persons  of  some  of  the  agencies  is  very  long.  By  this 
way,  the  news  agencies  in  Peking  are  taking  the  place  of  evening 
papers,  and  many  of  them  have  built  up  a  reputable  standing  and 
hence  become  very  influential.     It  is  almost  invariably  true  that 


476      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

these  news  agencies  are  either  run  by  poHtical  parties  or  sub- 
sidized by  certain  political  figures,  and  it  is  therefore  also  invari- 
ably true  that  the  news  they  issue  is  tinged  with  political  color  or 
mixed  with  personal  element.  Such  being  the  case,  it  is  there- 
fore rather  hard  for  newspaper  editors,  if  they  want  to  use  the 
service  of  these  agencies,  to  distinguish  between  a  real  story  and 
a  yellow  information,  to  trace  dividing  lines  of  political  and  per- 
sonal interests,  and  to  select  the  right  ones  for  publication.  In 
case  of  foreign  news  agencies,  that  is,  news  agencies  supported 
and  conducted  by  foreigners,  they  are  operated  with  certain  defi- 
nite purposes  to  achieve  certain  definite  objects.  Most  of  them 
are  ofificial  organs  of  foreign  governments,  and  some  of  them  are 
mouthpieces  of  big  foreign  financial  interests.  Since  the  policy 
and  purpose  of  these  agencies  are  so  divergent  one  from  another, 
it  is  not  uncommon  that  the  news  items  issued  by  them  are  con- 
tradictory. Very  often,  a  British  report  about  conditions  in  Rus- 
sia appearing  in  today's  paper  has  to  be  corrected  by  a  Russian 
version  tomorrow.  Still  very  often  news  sent  out  by  Japanese 
agencies  on  U.  S. -Japanese  relations  can  never  be  confirmed  by 
American  agencies.  With  the  Chinese  agencies  they  even  present 
more  interesting  phenomena  than  the  foreign  agencies.  One  agen- 
cy would  send  out,  sometimes  purely  through  manufacturing,  a 
report  about  the  unfavorable  situation  of  the  political  party,  with 
whose  views  and  policies  the  issuing  agency  can  not  agree ;  an- 
other agency  would  publish  something  concerning  entirely  private 
afifairs  of  an  influential  person  in  the  enemy's  camp ;  and  still 
another  agency  would  put  out  in  its  reports  items  absolutely  un- 
true and  detrimental  to  the  interests  of  the  opposition  group.  Of 
course,  all  these  practices  do  not  appear  every  day,  but  the 
agencies  certainly  take  them  as  their  weapons  to  defeat  people  be- 
longing to  diiTerent  political  belief  and  faith. 

All  these  news  agencies  employ  a  certain  number  of  news 
gatherers  to  get  material  for  publication.  As  it  has  been  said 
above,  it  is  very  seldom  that  the  reporters  can  get  news  through 
regular  way  of  release,  the  news  agency  reporters  in  Peking  have 
to  resort  to  some  other  ways  than  regular.  Generally  these  re- 
porters are  alert  and  always  on  the  job,  and  the  way  they  get 
their  news  is  through  making  friends  with  government  employees, 
visiting  parks,  tea  houses,   theatres,   and   restaurants,   and   fre- 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         All 

quenting  other  amusement  places  where  the  government  em- 
ployees go  during  their  leisure  hours.  Through  conversations 
with  others  and  through  hearing  others'  conversations,  these  re- 
porters usually  get  good  stories  about  what  is  going  on  in  and 
around  Peking,  socially  as  well  as  politically ;  and  whoever  se- 
cures the  greatest  number  of  friends  and  whoever  secures  the 
greatest  number  of  stories,  he  will  be  the  most  successful  re- 
porter in  the  long  run.  Such  is  the  fascinating  life  of  news 
agency  reporters  in  Peking,  and  such  a  fascinating  life  is  probably 
unequaled  anywhere  else  in  the  world. 

With  regard  to  the  foreign  journalists  in  China,  be  they  news 
agency  reporters  or  be  they  specially  sent  correspondents  of  some 
big  and  influential  papers  of  foreign  countries,  the  number  of 
the  latter  case  is,  by  the  way,  very  limited,  their  life  is  an  en- 
tirely different  one.  Their  usual  way  of  getting  news  is  through 
direct  calls  on  the  people  from  whom  they  want  to  get  something 
and  through  correspondence  with  people  from  whom  they  are 
anxious  to  learn  something.  It  is  very  strange  to  say  that  Chi- 
nese officials  and  authorities  are  very  willing  to  grant  interviews 
to  foreign  newspapermen,  and  to  answer  the  questions  put  to 
them  by  the  foreign  correspondents,  though  such  interviews  are 
as  a  rule  very  formal  and  uninteresting,  and  though  such  answers 
given  are  generally  too  indirect  and  not  to  the  point.  To  an  ex- 
pert foreign  correspondent,  who  has  been  in  China  for  many 
years,  such  interviews  and  answers  would  not  be  regarded  as 
good  and  fit  for  print,  until  he  puts  a  lot  of  finishing  touches  to 
them  by  his  knowledge  of  Chinese  people  and  Chinese  aflfairs ; 
but  an  inexperienced  one,  who  just  came  over,  is  liable  to  use 
them  as  they  have  been  given  to  him,  possibly  coupled  with 
wrong  interpretations  of  his  own.  It  is  through  this  latter  case 
that  many  a  time  misunderstanding  about  China  and  Chinese  af- 
fairs would  arise,  and  it  is  therefore  sincerely  hoped  that  no 
foreign  newspaper  would  send  any  correspondent  over  to  China, 
unless  it  is  assured  that  he  is  fully  equipped  with  a  knowledge 
about  China  and  thus  fully  qualified. 

Now  just  a  word  or  two  about  sending  Chinese  news  abroad 
and  getting  foreign  news  into  China.  Both  of  these  services  are 
at  present  in  the  hands  of  foreigners.  News  about  China  is  being 
dispatched  to  foreign  lands  by  telegraphic  lines,  submarine  cables, 


478       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 


or  wireless  transmission.  Most  of  the  materials  are  taken  from 
the  interviews  and  correspondence  acquired  through  the  man- 
ner as  above  described,  and  the  rest  of  them  are  secured  through 
translations  from  Chinese  papers.  They  are  usually  misleading 
and  full  of  misinterpretations.  On  the  other  hand,  news  about 
foreign  countries  generally  comes  through  the  offices  of  foreign 
news  agencies.  Only  a  few  Chinese  papers  have  their  own  cor- 
respondents abroad,  though  many  of  the  students  studying  in 
foreign  countries,  including  girls,  have  been  contracted  with  to 
dispatch  news  home  by  some  of  the  papers. 

Practically  a  hundred  per  cent  of  the  Chinese  papers  take  in 
foreign  news  items  and  publish  them  as  they  are  supplied  by  the 
responsible  foreign  news  agencies.  Sometimes  home  correspon- 
dence appearing  in  foreign  newspapers  in  China  is  also  trans- 
lated by  the  vernacular  papers  for  publication.  In  both  cases,  the 
news  thus  published  is  not  of  the  first  hand  value,  and  generally 
not  the  kind  of  news  fit  for  Chinese  readers.  It  is  therefore 
strongly  urged  that  neither  newspapers  of  foreign  countries  nor 
Chinese  newspapers  at  home  should  feel  satisfied  with  the  foreign 
news  service  which  they  are  getting  and  both  of  them  should 
send  out  correspondents  of  their  own  to  get  whatever  news  they 
want,  which  can  be  taken  by  the  readers  as  trustworthy  and  re- 
liable. 

Such  is  a  brief  survey  of  news  service  in  China,  and  the  con- 
ditions as  now  prevailing  are  certainly  unsatisfactory  and  in- 
efificient.  We  want  improvement  and  progress,  and  we  want  to 
better  these  conditions.  We  are  only  hoping  now  that  the  cable 
rate,  which  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  has  been  energeti- 
cally discussing,  will  be  eventually  reduced,  so  that  newspapers  of 
China  and  of  foreign  countries  can  afiford  to  send  correspondents 
to  do  some  real  correspondence  work  between  China  and  other 
countries,  which  is  so  badly  needed,  and  we  are  also  hoping  now 
that  an  international  news  agency,  properly  managed  and  con- 
ducted with  honest  and  straight  purposes,  which  the  Pan-Pacific 
Press  Conference  is  trying  to  realize,  will  be  realized  in  the  near 
future,  so  that  countries,  at  least  countries  bordering  on  the 
Pacific  ocean,  can  be  better  acquainted  one  with  another,  and 
the  news  service  between  them  can  be  better  handled.  These  are 
what  modern  journalists  in  China  are  looking  for  from  the  Press 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conjerence         479 

Congress  of  the  World,  and  particularly  from  the  Pan-Pacific 
Press  Conference.  We  have  only  a  handful  of  journalists  in  China 
who  deserve  to  be  called  journalists,  and  unless  the  journalists 
of  the  world,  particularly  Pan-Pacific  journalists,  will  be  willing 
to  help  and  assist  us,  we  can  not  expect  to  remedy  the  present 
journalistic  condition  in  China,  which  is  so  undeveloped  and  be- 
hind time,  in  a  short  time.  Will  the  journalists  of  the  world, 
and  of  the  Pan-Pacific  countries  help  and  assist  us? 


THE  PAN-PACIFIC  UNION  AND  THE  CANADIAN 

PRESS 


By  Oswald  Mayrand, 

Managing  Bditor,  La  Presse,  Montreal,  Canada. 

Canada  has  a  coast  line  of  7000  miles  on  the  Pacific  Ocean,  so 
that  my  country  is  quite  naturally  interested  in  all  questions  con- 
cerning the  Pan-Pacific  Union  Press  Conference.  The  Ca- 
nadian press  at  large  is  aware  of  the  fact  that  the  eyes  of  the  whole 
world  are  actually  drawn  upon  the  Pacific's  problems  and  all 
the  journalists  of  my  country  are  anxious  to  contribute,  as  much 
as  possible,  to  the  solution  of  such  problems. 

As  it  has  already  been  said  by  some  speakers  at  the  present 

Press   Congress   of   the  World,   mutual   understanding   is   to   be 

sought   by   all    nations    who   want   to   live    in    peace   with   their 

neighbors.      And   to   make   nations   understand   each    other,    the 

lowering  of  the  rates  of  fast  communications  by  land  telegraph, 

cable  and  wireless  seems  especially  desirable. 

*     *     * 

The  shortness  of  unskilled  labor,  as  it  exists  in  the  Hawaiian 
Territory,  is,  for  instance,  a  serious  question  to  be  settled  by 
the  government  of  the  United  States,  but  the  press  of  the  whole 
Pan-Pacific  Union  is  taking  a  deep  interest  in  the  solution  of 
such  economic  problem  which  may  have  a  wide  bearing  on  the 
international   labor.     There   is   actually   so  much   unemployme?it 


480      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

all  over  the  world  that  it  is  lamentable  to  see  in  these  days  of 
general  postwar  hardships  courageous  men  as  the  Hawaiian  in- 
dustrial leaders  short  of  labormen.  Let  us  hope  that  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  is  on  the  verge  to  bring  forth  a  solution 
which  shall  secure  necessary  labor  and  prosperity  to  these  is- 
lands without  jeopardizing  the  security  of  the  American  Re- 
public. 

*  *     * 

The  Canadian  Press,  Limited,  which  supplies  nearly  all  the 
dailies  with  foreign  news  as  well  as  local  news,  is  a  cooperative 
organization  of  which  most  newspapers  of  the  Dominion  are 
members.  She  has  reliable  correspondents  in  all  the  great  cities 
of  my  country  and  her  connections  with  the  Associated  Press  of 
the  United  States  secure  to  our  people  a  satisfactory  service 
which,  however,  we  urge  to  make  better.  Should  not  the  co- 
operative principle  which  is  at  the  very  basis  of  the  Canadian 
Press,  Limited,  and  which  makes  her  services  effective  be  em- 
bodied in  the  Pan-Pacific  Union?  Countries  having  common  in- 
terests in  the  many  problems  concerning  the  territories  confined 
by  the  Pacific  Ocean  should  pull  together  and  give  their  full 
cooperation  for  the  common  welfare. 

*  *     * 

There  are  surely  great  possibilities  of  commercial  intercourse 
between  the  Hawaiian  Islands  and  Canada,  separated  only  by 
water,  and  I  hope  that  the  present  congress  of  the  Fourth  Estate 
held  in  these  islands  shall  contribute  to  stimulate  such  intercourse 
which  should  be  profitable  to  all  interested  parties. 

The  Canadian  press  realizes  that  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  is  a 
peaceful  organization  seeking  to  settle  harmoniously  all  diver- 
gencies of  opinion  among  interested  parties  and  she  rallies  to  your 
colors ;  she  is  willing  to  take  a  glorious  share  in  your  enlighten- 
ing mission. 

On  the  sixth  of  September  last,  more  than  one  hundred  years 
of  peace  between  the  United  States  and  Canada  were  commemo- 
rated by  the  dedication  of  the  Peace  Portal,  a  huge  arch  of  steel 
and  cement,  on  the  international  boundary  line  near  Blaine, 
Washington.  The  Peace  Portal  rfests  half  on  American  and  half 
on  Canadian  soil.     On  the  south  side  are  inscribed  the  words: 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         481 

"Children  of  a  Common  Mother."  On  the  north  side  appear  these 
words :  "Brethren  DwelHng  Together  in  Unity."  On  the  interior, 
below  one  of  the  doors  can  be  read:  "Open  for  One  Hundred 
Years."  And  below  the  other  door :  "May  These  Doors  Never 
be  Closed."  The  structure  bears  two  flag  poles  from  which  fly 
the  Stars  and  Stripes  and  the  Union  Jack.  During  the  dedica- 
tion ceremonies  the  flags  of  Belgium  and  France  were  hoisted. 

Is  not  that  Peace  Portal  an  inspiring  emblem  of  what  should 
be  the  friendly  relations  between  the  several  nations  having  some 
territory  in  the  Pacific  Ocean? 


THE  PRESS  AND  PEACE  IN  THE  PACIFIC 


By  He;nry  Stead, 
Editor,  Stead's  Rcviciv,  Melbourne,  Australia. 

I  regret  most  deeply  that  illness  prevents  my  being  present 
at  the  first  Pan-Pacific  Conference,  to  attend  which  I  traveled 
specially  from  Australia. 

I  regard  this  Conference  as  of  the  very  greatest  importance 
for  the  political  center  of  the  world  has  now  shifted  from  Europe 
to  the  Pacific.  In  the  old  world  the  great  war  has  left  the  Allies 
supreme.  Their  word  is  law  and  they  realize  that  if  they  would 
maintain  peace  they  must  agree  amongst  themselves.  In  the 
Pacific  however  these  same  Powers  are  by  no  means  a  happy 
family.  They  do  not  agree,  and  their  differences,  minor  though 
most  of  them  be,  actually  threaten  the  peace  of  the  world.  That 
being  so  every  effort  put  forth  to  improve  the  relations  between 
the  Pacific  nations  is  of  peculiar  importance  at  the  present  time. 
We  newspaper  men  realize  how  great  an  influence  we  can  and 
do  wield  among  the  people,  and  if  we,  in  conference,  can  come 
to  some  understanding  amongst  ourselves,  can  evolve  some  plan 
of  united  action  with  the  object  of  enabling  the  Pacific  nations 
to  get  to  know  one  another  better  and  thus  avoid  the  unnecessary 
friction  which  so  easily  arises,  we  will  indeed  have  done  well. 

31 


482       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

It  is  an  astonishing  fact,  which  too  few  people  properly  realize, 
that  whilst  all  the  great  nations  are  spending  huge  sums  on  mak- 
ing preparations  for  defense  and  war,  not  one  of  them  is  spend- 
ing a  single  cent  in  order  to  systematically  attempt  to  make  the 
war  they  fear  impossible.  Millions  of  dollars  are  spent  on  build- 
ing gigantic  superdreadnaughts  which  will  be  obsolete  in  five 
years,  but  not  one  dollar  is  set  aside  with  the  object  of  promoting 
better  relations  between  the  nations,  getting  them  to  know  each 
other  better,  thus  making  war  less  likely.  It  was  a  well  known 
American  statesman  who,  at  a  time  of  crisis  prior  to  the  late  war, 
declared :  "Give  me  the  price  of  a  single  battleship  and  I  will 
undertake  to  make  this  threatened  struggle  impossible," 

Just  suppose  for  a  moment  that  the  Administration  were  to 
set  aside  no  more  than  one  per  cent  of  its  war  appropriations  for 
use  in  peace  propaganda.  Why  there  would  be  no  war !  Today 
it  costs  at  least  $25,000,000  to  build  a  dreadnaught.  What  could 
not  be  done  with  one  per  cent  of  that  huge  sum  for  the  cause  of 
peace.  But  no  government  at  present  sets  aside  even  one-tenth 
of  one  per  cent  of  its  war  expenditures  for  peace  purposes. 

Several  years  ago  when  the  mayors  of  French  towns  were 
visiting  England,  having  been  invited  to  do  so  by  their  English 
confreres,  all  the  money  required  for  their  entertainment  had  to 
be  raised  privately.  The  British  Government,  although  most 
sympathetic,  had  actually  no  funds  available  to  provide  these  vis- 
itors with  even  one  banquet!  Yet  when  distinguished  soldiers 
from  abroad  came  to  England  the  War  Office  had  always  plenty 
of  money  to  entertain  them  with.  Every  one  admits  that  visits 
of  this  nature  helped  to  bring  about  a  better  understanding  be- 
tween England  and  France,  but  the  expense  of  such  visits  had 
to  be  borne  always  by  private  individuals.  That  is  not  right  and 
I  think  it  is  the  duty  of  every  newspaper  man  to  try  and  induce 
his  particular  government  to  set  aside  a  definite  sum,  better  still 
a  fixed  percentage  of  its  defense  and  war  expenditure,  which 
should  be  used  in  order  to  facilitate  visits  of  representative  men 
and  workers  from  one  country  to  another;  should  be  used  to 
disseminate  correct  information  about  one  country  in  another, 
and  above  all  should  be  utilized  to  run  to  earth  in  one  country 
the  lies  which  are  at  present  so  widely  circulated  about  another. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         483 

What  is  needed  in  every  country  is  a  Ministry  of  Friendship 
in  charge  of  a  man  whose  duty  it  should  be  to  apply  the  grease 
of  truth  to  the  international  machinery  when  the  friction  between 
its  parts  became  acute.  We  have  secretaries  of  state,  for  war, 
for  the  navy,  ministers  of  defense.  Immensely  complicated  dip- 
lomatic services  whose  nominal  duty  it  is  to  work  for  peace  but 
who,  alas,  are  much  more  concerned  in  finding  out  the  latest  de- 
vices other  nations  have  adopted  in  their  armies  and  navies  than 
they  are  in  smoothing  away  those  little  irritations  which  so  quick- 
ly give  cause  for  war. 

In  Australia  the  year  before  the  war  we  spent  almost  £6,000,- 
000  on  the  army  and  navy.  Unless  the  Disarmament  Conference 
at  Washington  is  successful  we  shall  have  to  spend  much  more 
than  that  in  coming  years.  The  taxpayers  in  the  Commonwealth, 
already  complaining,  will  strongly  protest,  but  protests  will  be  of 
no  avail  if  other  fleets  of  the  Pacific  are  being  increased  in  size. 
The  man  who  has  to  find  the  money  is  likely  to  approve  the  sug- 
gestion that  a  very  small  part  of  it  should  be  used  to  make  the 
war  he  fears  impossible.  Australia  could  well  afford  to  spend 
one-tenth  of  one  per  cent  of  its  defense  appropriation  on  work 
for  peace  in  the  Pacific.  £60,000  is  a  small  amount,  yet  carefully 
expended  it  should  make  the  raising  of  £6,000.000  for  defense 
purposes  unnecessary.  If  all  the  Pacific  countries  were  to  spend 
no  more  than  one-tenth  of  one  per  cent  of  their  appropriations 
for  armies  and  navies  on  systematic  peace  propaganda  I  am  con- 
vinced that  the  need  for  those  armies  and  those  navies  would 
quickly  disappear. 

We  are,  I  think,  all  seized  with  the  fact  that  wars  are  almost 
always  due  to  misunderstandings  which  had  time  permitted  could 
have  been  cleared  up.  But  whilst  the  machinery  for  making  war 
is  always  well  oiled,  efficient  and  up-to-date,  no  special  machinery 
for  preserving  peace  exists  at  all.  It  seems  to  me  that  we  might 
well  work  for  the  setting  up  of  such  machinery  and  urge  our 
respective  governments  to  set  aside  a  mere  fraction  of  the  huge 
sums  they  spend  on  getting  ready  for  war  to  be  used  in  bring- 
ing about  a  better  understanding  between  Pacific  peoples,  in 
running  a  campaign  of  truth  to  counteract  the  wild  and  foolish 


484       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

rumors  which  at  present  furnish  fuel  for  misunderstandings  and 
mutual  distrust. 

But  whilst  I  think  it  is  the  duty  of  governments  to  systemati- 
cally work  for  peace  and  not  concern  themselves  only  in  pre- 
paring for  war,  it  will  be  difficult  to  bring  them  to  a  realization 
of  that  fact.  Meanwhile  can  we  not  do  something  ourselves  to 
counteract  these  lies  and  rumors  which  work  so  much  mischief 
in  our  relations  with  other  Pacific  countries.  We  are  severely 
handicapped  because  we  ourselves  do  not  know  the  truth  about 
our  neighbors  and,  not  knowing  the  truth,  we  cannot  contradict 
the  lie.  It  would  be  well  if  every  large  newspaper  or  group  of 
newspapers  were  to  have  a  reliable  correspondent  in  each  country 
washed  by  the  Pacific,  who  could  be  relied  on  to  give  accurate 
information  himself  and  to  report  false  news  which  was  being 
circulated  in  the  country  where  he  was  living  about  that  one  where 
the  papers  he  represented  were  located.  Expense  is  of  course 
the  chief  argument  against  this  plan,  but  already  some  of  the 
Australian  papers  have  made  a  beginning  and  a  reliable  corre- 
spondent represents  the  Melbourne  Herald  in  Japan. 

It  is  to  be  hoped  that  other  papers  will  follow  suit.  But 
correspondents  are  a  luxury  which  great  newspapers  only  can 
indulge  in,  the  lesser  journals  have  to  rely  upon  what  they  get 
from  the  large  dailies  and  from  chance  letters.  The  Pan-Pa- 
cific Union,  which  has  already  done  so  much  to  promote  a  better 
feeling  in  the  Pacific,  might  be  of  use  here.  It  might  act  as  a  dis- 
tribution center  of  reliable  news  concerning  every  Pacific  coun- 
try. There  are  plenty  of  journals  in  Australia  which  would  be 
glad  to  have  short  articles  telling,  for  instance,  about  labor  con- 
ditions in  Japan  and  China ;  plenty  which  would  publish  brief 
accounts  of  social  movements  in  other  countries.  How  far 
they  would  be  prepared  to  support  a  "truth"  service  of  this  kind 
it  is  difficult  to  say.  but  my  experience  certainly  suggests  that  it 
would  be  unwise  to  oflfer  it  free.  Individuals  and  newspapers, 
whilst  at  first  welcoming  something  for  nothing,  soon  cease  to 
have  interest  in  it.  On  the  other  hand,  when  they  have  to  pay 
even  a  small  sum  for  it,  their  interest  is  preserved  and  Mdien  thev 
would  throw  a  batch  of  free  articles  into  the  waste-paper  basket, 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         485 

they  would  carefully  peruse  those  they  had  paid  to  have  sent 
them. 

The  scheme  would  require  working  out  and  considerable 
modification  but,  properly  done,  it  should  be  of  immense  value 
in  bringing  about  a  better  understanding  between  the  Pacific 
peoples.  It  is  because  we  do  not  understand  each  other,  because 
we  are  suspicious  of  each  other,  that  we  think  and  talk  of  war. 
If  we  knew  more  about  each  other  we  would  think  much  less 
about  war.  The  press  can  do  more  than  any  other  agency  to 
bring  about  the  desired  understanding.  It  can  frown  on  scare 
rumors  and  seek  always  to  soothe  instead  of  ruffle  the  suscepti- 
bilities of  its  neighbors.  The  Pacific  being  now  the  center  of 
world  politics  the  responsibilities  thrown  on  the  Pacific  press  are 
great,  far  greater  than  they  have  ever  been  before.  I  am  con- 
fident that  we  will  rise  to  the  occasion  and  do  everything  in  our 
power  to  dispel  the  danger  of  war  and  bring  in  that  era  of  peace 
which  we  so  fondly  imagined  would  be  ours  once  the  great  war 
had  been  won.  I,  at  any  rate,  pledge  myself  to  do  everything  in 
my  power  to  assist  any  movement  started  at  this  Conference 
which  has  as  an  object  the  bringing  of  mutual  understanding  and 
trust  amongst  the  peoples  of  the  Pacific. 


REPORT  OF  THE  COMMITTEE  ON  RESOLUTIONS 


By  LoRRiN  A.  Thurston,  Chairman. 

I  would  say  that  the  Committee  was  presented  with  three  ap- 
parently inconsistent  propositions:  one  was  that  this  Pan-Pacific 
Conference,  the  permanent  organization,  should  be  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  World's  Press  Congress ;  the  second  proposition  was 
that  it  should  be  under  the  control  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union; 
and  the  third,  that  it  should  be  an  independent  body.  The  duties 
of  the  Committee  have  been  to  try  and  reconcile  these  three  prop- 
ositions, and  it  was  recognized,  before  the  initial  steps  were  taken, 
that  there  were  advocates  for  all  three  propositions. 


486      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Taking  the  last  first,  it  seemed  that  the  newspaper  men  of  the 
Pacific  were  able  to  handle  their  own  affairs  without  having  to 
look  to  anybody  else  for  advice  or  counsel.  On  the  other  hand, 
we  recognized  that  it  is  an  unorganized  body,  so  far  as  having 
any  paid  official,  and  experience  has  demonstrated  that  an  unpaid 
organization  of  men  with  other  business  to  attend  to  is  liable 
to  lose  interest,  and  affairs  are  apt  to  lag  behind,  whereas  ai 
permanently  organized  body  with  paid  officials,  such  as  is  the 
Pan-Pacific  Union,  whose  first  business  is  to  carry  out  the  ob- 
jects of  that  organization,  will  be  much  more  promptly  attended 
to.  It  is  desirable  to  allow  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  to  utilize  its 
machinery  for  carrying  out  this  object.  As  to  the  Press  Con- 
gress, the  Committee  recognizes  the  extreme  advantage  of 
being  a  part  and  parcel  of  a  working  organization,  and  therefore 
having  the  moral  as  well  as  the  positive  and  material  support  of 
that  organization  when  it  had  formulated  policies  which  it  wished 
to  have  incorporated  into  its  policies,  consequently  the  Committee 
has  felt  strongly  that  it  was  extremely  desirable  to  have  the  three 
policies  combined  if  possible,  and  the  resolutions  I  will  now  pre- 
sent are  an  attempt  to  do  that. 

A  second  problem  presented  was  as  to  the  method  of  control 
of  the  organization,  the  difficulties  being,  on  the  one  hand,  that  it 
should  be  democratic  and  that  every  member  of  the  Congress 
should  have  something  to  say  in  regard  to  its  policies,  but,  on 
the  other  hand,  our  members  are  so  scattered  that,  in  order  to 
secure  promptness  and  efficiency  of  action,  it  is  necessary  to  have 
concentrated  control  for  current  work. 

We  have  attempted  in  that  respect  to  give  a  control  to  every 
member  of  the  Congress  when  the  meetings  take  place.  In  order 
to  give  a  partial  general  control  by  the  members  during  the  in- 
tervals between  meetings,  the  scheme  has  been  devised  of  having 
a  general  committee  which  shall  consist  of  at  least  one  member 
from  every  country  in  the  organization.  In  order  that  this  may 
never  delay  operations,  the  countries  being  scattered  along  the 
Pacific,  requiring  a  month  or  two  for  full  consideration,  the  ad- 
ditional scheme  was  devised  of  having  a  central  steering  com- 
mittee of  three  persons,  and  again,  to  get  prompt  action,  that 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         487 

these  be  located  in  Honolulu,  where  lines  between  the  countries 
are  shortest.  That  is  an  explanation  as  to  why  there  appears  to 
be  undue  concentration  of  authority  between  meetings. 

Your  Committee  on  Resolutions  herewith  presents  four  reso- 
lutions relative  to : 

1.  The  organization  of  a  permanent  Pan-Pacific   Press   Con- 
ference ; 

2.  Electrical  News  Service  in  and  about  the  Pacific ; 

3.  Defining  the  scope  of  the  activities  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Press 
Conference ; 

4.  Endorsing  the  Conference  to  Limit  Armaments  and  to  con- 
sider the  problems  of  the  Pacific  and  the  Far  East. 

Your  Committee  recommends  the  adoption  of   these  resolu- 
tions. 


RESOLUTION  No.  1,  Concerning  the  Organization  oe  a 
Permanent  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference. 

Whereas,  representatives  of  the  press  of  the  countries  in  and 
bordering  upon  the  Pacific  Ocean  in  attendance  upon  the  sessions 
of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  have  been  convened  and  are 
now  in  session  as  the  "Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference"  for  the 
consideration  of  matters  of  special  concern  to  the  journalism  of 
the  Pacific  regions ; 

And  Whereas,  the  formation  of  a  permanent  organization  of 
representatives  of  the  press  of  the  Pacific  will  promote  the  pur- 
poses for  which  this  Conference  was  called ;  provide  a  means  for 
effectuating  its  objects  and  desires;  give  publicity  to  its  purposes 
and  proceedings  and  the  needs  of  the  Pacific  region  and  furnish 
a  medium  for  calling  and  holding  future  meetings  of  such  rep- 
resentatives ; 

And  Whereas,  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  is  a  duly  incorporated 
body,  organized  under  the  laws  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii,  U. 
S.  A.,  with  offices  in  Honolulu,  having  an  international  Board 
of  Trustees  representing  the  principal  nations  of  the  Pacific,  one 
of  the  main  objects  of  which  is  to  call  conferences  of  delegates 
from  Pacific  regions  to  discuss  and  further  interests  common  to 


488      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Pacific  peoples,  with  a  view  to  bringing  them  into  closer  contact 
and  more  friendly  relations; 

And  Whereas,  the  said  Pan-Pacific  Union  has  called  the  first 
Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  with  the  approval  and  cooperation 
of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  and  has  financed  this 
Conference  and  ofifers  its  services  in  carrying  forward  recom- 
mendations made  by  the  Conference,  in  calling  further  Pan- 
Pacific  Conferences  at  such  times  and  places  as  may  be  mutually 
agreed  upon,  when  so  requested  by  the  proper  officers  of  the 
same,  and  in  bringing  the  press  men  of  the  Pacific  into  better  ac- 
quaintanceship, cooperation,  correspondence  and  communication ; 

Be  It  Resolved,  that  the  members  of  this  Pan-Pacific  Press 
Conference  be  and  hereby  are  organized  into  a  permanent  body 
to  be  known  as  the  "Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,"  to  con- 
sist of  representatives  of  the  press  from  the  countries  and  states 
in  or  bordering  upon  the  Pacific  Ocean;  such  representatives  to 
be  appointed  upon  such  conditions,  in  such  numbers  and  in  such 
manner  as  may  be  hereafter  decided  by  the  General  Committee 
of  said  Conference  as  hereinafter  indicated; 

Be  It  Further  Resolved,  that  all  of  the  powers  of  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Press  Conference  hereby  formed,  between  the  meetings 
of  same,  shall  be  vested  in  a  General  Committee,  consisting  of 
not  less  than  one  delegate  from  each  country  or  state  now  repre- 
sented in  the  present  Conference  or  which  may  hereafter  be  rep- 
resented therein ;  who  shall  be  appointed  by  the  President. 

Except  as  herein  otherwise  provided,  all  of  the  powers  of 
the  General  Committee  shall  be  vested  in  an  Executive  Committee 
of  three,  one  of  whom  shall  be  the  President,  and  one  the  Sec- 
retary. The  Secretary  shall  also  act  as  Treasurer  of  the  Con- 
ference, of  the  General  Committee  and  of  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee. 

For  purposes  of  convenience  of  administration  and  securing 
promptness  of  action,  the  President  and  Secretary  shall,  until 
otherwise  ordered  by  the  Conference  or  the  General  Committee, 
be  residents  of  Honolulu,  Hawaii. 

The  members  of  the  Executive  Committee  are  hereby  de- 
clared to  be : 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         489 

President   

Secretary 

Member    

Vacancies  in  the  General  Committee  or  the  Executive  Com- 
mittee, caused  by  death,  resignation,  disability  or  failure  to  act 
for  the  space  of  one  year,  shall  be  filled  by  appointment  by  the 
President. 

In  case  of  a  vacancy  in  the  office  of  President,  the  same  shall 
be  filled  by  vote  of  the  General  Committee. 

Members  of  the  General  Committee  representing  additional 
countries  or  states  which  may  hereafter  join  said  Conference, 
shall  be  appointed  by  the  President. 

Officers  and  members  of  said  General  and  Executive  Com- 
mittees shall  be  hereafter  elected  at  each  meeting  of  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Press  Conference,  by  a  majority  vote  of  the  delegates  at- 
tending such  meeting. 

The  officers  and  members  of  said  General  and  Executive 
Committees  shall  continue  to  hold  their  respective  offices  until 
their  successors  are  duly  elected  or  appointed. 

The  members  of  the  General  Committee  are  hereby  authorized, 
by  majority  vote,  between  sessions  of  this  Conference,  to  amend 
or  add  to  the  terms  of  organization  herein  expressed. 

Be  It  Further  Resolved,  that  the  said  offer  of  the  Pan-Pa- 
cific Union  is  hereby  accepted  with  the  sincere  thanks  of  this 
Conference. 

Be  It  Further  Resok'ed,  that,  in  the  opinion  of  this  Pan- 
Pacific  Press  Conference,  it  will  be  in  the  best  interests  of  all 
concerned  if  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  shall  act  as  and 
be  a  permanent  regional  section  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the 
World,  representing  it  and  cooperating  with  it,  in  and  concerning 
all  matters  appertaining  to  or  of  special  interest  to  the  countries 
and  peoples  of  the  Pacific,  and  the  Executive  Committee  is  here- 
by authorized  and  directed  to  make  such  arrangements  to  effec- 
tuate this  suggestion  as  are  mutually  satisfactory  to  it  and  the 
Press  Congress  of  the  World. 

Meetings  of  the  Conference  shall  be  called  by  the  President, 
or  by  a  majority  of  the  Executive  Committee,  at  such  times  and 
places  as,  in  conference  with  the  Pan-Pacific  Union,  may  be  de- 


490      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

termined,  due  notice  thereof  being  given  to  members  of  the  Con- 
ference. 

Every  appointment  herein  provided  to  be  made  by  the  Pres- 
ident, shall,  when  made,  be  immediately  reported  to  each  mem- 
ber of  the  General  Committee,  and  shall  be  subject  to  revocation 
and  the  appointment  of  another  in  place  thereof,  upon  a  vote  to 
that  effect  by  majority  of  the  General  Committee.  Until  such 
vote  is  received,  such  appointment  shall  be  effective. 


Resolution  No.  2 — Eleictrical  News  Service  In  and  About 
THE  Pacific  Ocean. 

Whereas  news  dispatches  are  now  transmitted  electrically 
with  speed,  efficiency  and  economy  between  certain  countries 
bordering  upon  the  Pacific  Ocean;  but  as  to  certain  other  coun- 
tries, more  particularly  between  the  United  States  on  the  one 
hand  and  Japan,  New  Zealand  and  Australia  on  the  other,  such 
service  is  neither  speedy,  efficient  nor  economical ; 

It  is  hereby  declared  by  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference 
now  assembled  in  the  City  of  Honolulu,  Territory  of  Hawaii,  U. 
S.  A.: 

That  ignorance  by  one  people  of  the  character,  objects,  pur- 
poses, doings  and  intentions  of  other  peoples,  is  the  most  prolific 
cause  of  misunderstanding  and  ill-feeling  between  such  peoples, 
tending  to  generate  suspicion  and  produce  friction  and  disagree- 
ment and  is  therefore  one  of  the  principal  causes  of  war ; 

That  the  easiest,  quickest  and  best  medium  for  dispelling  such 
ignorance  is  the  public  press ; 

That  the  day  has  passed  when  the  mail  is  adequate  to  trans- 
mit news  from  one  country  to  another ; 

That  communication  from  one  country  to  another  by  electric 
telegraph,  cable  or  wireless,  is  essential  to  that  full  and  prompt 
knowledge  of  what  is  transpiring  in  the  various  countries  to  se- 
cure in  full  measure  the  benefits  incident  to  publicity ; 

That  to  obtain  the  full  advantage  and  benefits  of  such  elec- 
trical transmission  of  press  messages,  it  should  reach  all  parts  of 
the  civilized  world  by  the  shortest,  cheapest  and  quickest  routes; 

That  such  service  around  and  across  the  Pacific  Ocean  is, 
as  to  some  portions  thereof  inadequate  in  its  connections,  ham- 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         491 

pered  by  artificial  obstacles,  and  so  expensive  as  to  be  prohibitive 
of  the  free  use  necessary  to  enable  the  press  to  make  the  best 
and  fullest  use  thereof ; 

That  this  Conference  hereby  declares  its  unqualified  convic- 
tion that  prompt  expansion  of  the  means  of  communication  to 
all  parts  of  the  Pacific  and  extension  to  the  press  of  facilities  for 
cheap,  unrestricted,  uncensored  and  uncontrolled  electrical  com- 
munication throughout  the  Pacific  will  be  a  most  potent  influence 
for  securing,  establishing  and  maintaining  good  feeling,  good 
will  and  peace  between  the  peoples  of  that  region,  and  thus  tend 
to  a  satisfactory  solution  of  the  chief  issue  now  pending  before 
the  nations ; 

That  this  Conference  hereby  most  heartily  commends  the  pol- 
icy under  which  the  wireless  service  of  the  U.  S.  Navy  is  now 
transmitting  press  messages  between  certain  points  in  the  Pa- 
cific, at  a  low  rate  and  hereby  most  urgently  recommends  that 
such  service  be  expanded  and  extended  to  all  parts  of  the  Pacific 
where  practicable ;  and  that  the  charges  for  such  service  shall 
not  exceed  the  amounts  necessary  to  make  such  service  self- 
supporting  ; 

That  to  insure  the  full  and  adequate  exchange  of  desirable 
news,  if  the  purposes  of  this  declaration  are  to  be  assured,  it  is 
necessary  that  means  be  evolved  for  the  collection  of  news  in  the 
several  countries  affected  and  the  same  exchanged  through  some 
common  medium  mutually  agreed  upon ; 

That  such  news  having  been  so  collected  it  is  highly  desirable 
that  the  same  should  so  far  as  reasonably  practicable,  be  concen- 
trated at  a  common  center,  to  be  there  segregated  and  forwarded 
to  such  points  as  it  may  be  of  interest.  Honolulu  is  recommended 
as  the  point  at  which  such  news  exchange  should  be  located ; 

That  this  Conference  therefore  most  strenuously  urges  the 
governments  and  companies  owning  or  controlling  mediums  of 
electrical  communication  in  and  about  the  Pacific  to  comply  with 
the  suggestions  and  recommendations  herein  contained ; 

That  the  officers  of  this  Conference  are  hereby  authorized  and 
instructed  to  take  all  necessary  or  proper  steps  to  secure  the  ac- 
tion herein  sousrht. 


492       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

RESOLUTION  No.  3 — Defining  the  Scope  oe  Activities  oe  the 
Pan-Pacieic  Press  ConeerEnce. 

Be  It  Resolved,  that  upon  the  permanent  organization  of  the 
Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,  among  other  matters  which  it  may 
properly  undertake,  the  following  shall  be  considered  to  be  with- 
in the  scope  of  the  activities  thereof,  viz. : 

1.  To  act  as  an  agency  for  interchanging  among  the  news- 
papers and  magazines  of  the  Pacific  region  accurate  information 
about  the  peoples  of  the  Pacific  and  their  problems. 

2.  To  arrange  future  conferences  of  representatives  of  the 
Pacific  press  to  the  end  that  the  problems  incident  to  the  work 
of  the  press  of  the  Pacific  region  shall  be  considered. 

3.  To  take  such  steps  as  are  necessary  to  securing  cheaper 
rates  and  more  efficient  service  for  telegraph,  cable  and  wireless 
messages. 

4.  To  entertain  representatives  of  the  press  of  the  Pacific  aa 
they  pass  through  Honolulu,  thus  utilizing  the  opportunity  af- 
forded for  spreading  the  Pan-Pacific  spirit. 

5.  To  investigate  the  feasibility  of  the  international  inter- 
change of  journalists  to  the  end  that  wider  contacts  may  be 
created  and  initiate  such  interchange  if  a  practical  plan  can  be 
formed. 

6.  To  consider  the  practicability  of  establishing  a  Pan-Pa- 
cific school  of  journalism  and  take  steps  to  bring  this  about  if 
feasible. 

7.  To  collect  and  interchange  films  and  pictures  that  portray 
accurately  the  life  of  the  people. 

8.  To  assist  in  furthering  the  movement  among  Pacific  coun- 
tries of  the  adoption  of  the  Roman  alphabet  and  of  a  common 
language. 

9.  To  take  such  steps  as  will  secure  a  modification  of  the 
ruling  of  the  shipping  board,  recently  made,  which  forbids  pas- 
sengers on  a  foreign  boat  bound  for  a  United  States  port  and 
wishing  to  stop  over  in  Honolulu,  from  resuming  passage  on  a 
boat  of  the  same  line.  This  is  the  interpretation  given  the  regula- 
tion that  no  foreign  boat  can  carry  passengers  between  American 
ports  and  works  a  hardship  upon  persons  coming  from  foreign 
ports  who  wish  to  stop  over  in  Honolulu  to  attend  conferences  or 
for  other  purposes. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         493 

Resolution  No.  A — Concerning  the  Limitation  oe  Arma- 
ments AND  Problems  oe  the  Pacific  and  the  Far  East. 

Whereas,  the  delegates  of  the  daily,  weekly  and  monthly  press 
of  the  countries  and  regions  bordering  the  Pacific  having  been 
convened  in  this  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  for  the  consider- 
ation of  questions  pertaining  particularly  to  the  Pacific  regions ; 

And  Whereas,  the  President  of  the  United  States  has  invited 
the  principal  allied  and  associated  powers  to  participate  in  a  con- 
ference on  the  limitation  of  armaments  and  on  the  problems  of 
the  Pacific  and  the  Far  East ; 

Therefore,  Be  It  Resolved,  that  we,  in  conference  assembled, 
do  warmly  commend  the  President  of  the  United  States  for  call- 
ing what  may  prove  to  be  an  epoch  making  conference  and  we 
further  commend  him  for  his  wisdom  in  proposing  that  at  this 
conference  an  attempt  be  made  to  come  to  a  common  under- 
standing with  respect  to  the  principles  and  policies  which  shall 
obtain  in  the  Far  East.  Furthermore,  that  we  instruct  the  of- 
ficers of  this  conference  to  convey  by  cable  to  the  President  of 
the  United  States  this  resolution. 

Discussion  of  Resolution  No.  2 

Mr.  Cohen  :  I  would  not  like  this  resolution  to  include  the 
word  "inefficient"  as  applied  to  the  service  of  cable  news  to  Aus- 
tralia or  New  Zealand,  because  in  my  humble  judgment  it  is 
contrary  to  the  fact.  One  has  to  remember  the  birth  and  growth 
of  cable  communications  during  the  past  25  years.  Since  then 
there  have  been  great  developments  and  great  improvements  in 
cables,  and  remembering,  as  I  do,  that  the  Pacific  cable  is  owned 
by  Great  Britain,  and  the  several  countries  of  Australia  and  New 
Zealand  and  Canada,  forming  a  federation  who  have  been  able 
out  of  its  profits  to  put  aside  large  sums  of  money  in  order  to 
secure  better  service,  and  remembering  further  that  the  Great 
Imperial  Conference  of  1909  committed  itself  to  this  declaration 
of  policy  that  as  soon  as  the  system  of  wireless  had  progressed 
sufficiently  as  to  make  it  reliable  and  dependable  that  the  govern- 
ments of  those  countries  should  be  asked  to  consider  the  prac- 
ticability of   furnishing  a  chain  of  imperial  communications  by 


494       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

wireless  around  the  globe ;  and  remembering  that  an  important 
delegation,  again  headed  by  Canada,  the  moving  spirit  in  this 
matter,  went  to  Mr.  Asquith,  Premier  of  Great  Britain,  and  put 
that  view  of  the  case  before  him,  and  induced  him,  by  solid  ar- 
gument, to  entertain  the  view  that  the  day  of  wireless  was  quickly 
coming;  I  venture  to  say  in  view  of  all  this  that  but  for  the  un- 
fortunate great  war,  a  chain  of  wireless,  assisted  by  that  great 
genius  in  wireless,  Marconi,  would  have  been  in  existence  today. 
I  understand  that  that  very  thing  is  now  being  evolved. 

Since  the  press  of  New  Zealand  and  Australia  depend  on  Lon- 
don for  the  major  supply  of  their  news,  everything  has  been  done 
to  make  that  news  reliable  and  thoroughly  representative  of  that 
frqm  which  it  emanates.  Anyone  who  has  seen  the  Sydney 
Morning  Herald  or  the  Melbourne  Argus  or  my  own  country 
papers  of  today,  will  remember  the  advance  that  is  given  to  world 
wide  events,  will  say  with  me  that  the  service  is  dependent,  re- 
liable and  efficient,  and  far  cheaper,  having  regard  to  all  circum- 
stances of  the  case.  I  recognize  and  freely  accord  the  Govern- 
ment of  the  United  States  credit  for  what  it  has  done  in  the  mat- 
ter of  establishing  a  service  with  which  at  all  events  you  Ameri- 
cans are  thoroughly  well  satisfied,  but  you  must  have  some  re- 
gard for  the  traditions  of  these  countries  which  have  a  monopoly  of 
utilities — the  countries  that  we  are  looking  to  for  help  and  as- 
sistance, and  we  cannot  run  counter  to  their  wishes.  If  there  is 
a  clearing  house  established  in  the  Pacific,  I  hope  it  may  be 
established  here.  I  hope  to  see  the  day  come  when  all  sensational 
items  are  suppressed  as  you  would  the  plague.  We  want  news, 
absolutely  reliable  news,  and  nothing  else.  We  don't  want  sen- 
sationalism. We  don't  want  items  about  the  decision  of  200  or 
300  school  children  as  to  whether  they  will  wear  short  frocks 
and  expose  part  of  their  anatomy  to  the  gaze  of  the  public.  We 
call  that  "piffle." 

You  must  give  us  some  credit  as  pioneers  in  this  work,  for 
having  done  what  we  tried  to  do.  We  intend  to  go  on  establish- 
ing wireless  where  we  can,  having  thought  for  the  enterprise  and 
press  of  our  country,  and  we  ask  you  Americans,  especially  you 
here,  to  second  our  eflforts  and  see  when  the  time  comes  that  we 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         495 

are  supplied  with  news  quickly,  that  is  thoroughly  reliable,  thor- 
oughly wholesome  and  thoroughly  dependable.  (Applause.) 

Mr.  Thurston  :  I  wish  to  say  a  word  of  explanation  on  the 
point  concerning  which  Mr.  Cohen  has  addressed  the  conference. 
Far  be  it  from  the  Committee  to  intend,  or  attempt  to  ignore  the 
news  service  which  is  going  to  Australia  from  the  south,  by  cable. 
This  question  has  been  given  more  consideration  by  the  Committee 
than  any  other  point  that  came  before  it.  The  statements  which 
have  been  made  here,  and  which  have  called  forth  the  criticism 
from  the  gentleman  were  based  on  information  received  by  the 
delegates  from  New  Zealand,  Australia,  and  Hongkong,  in  ad- 
dition to  the  information  furnished  by  the  chief  of  the  wireless 
station  in  Honolulu.  The  delegate  here  from  Hongkong  stated 
to  us  that  the  news  they  received  in  Hongkong  came  to  them 
not  direct  but  by  way  of  London — telegraphed  across  the  world 
to  London  and  then  relayed  to  Hongkong.  That  does  not  seem 
to  be  efficient  or  economical  and  I  have  therefore  characterized 
that  as  being  a  part  of  the  service  that  is  inefficient  and  un-eco- 
nomical.  One  of  the  delegates  from  New  Zealand  stated  to  the 
Committee  that  on  the  way  here  from  New  Zealand,  up  to  the 
day  before  they  reached  Honolulu,  he  was  able  to  send  messages 
for  4j^d  or  9  cents  a  word,  and  that  the  day  after  he  got  here  he 
attempted  to  send  a  message  and  was  told  he  could  not  send  it. 
but  was  referred  to  the  cable  office  where  he  was  told  he  could 
only  send  a  message  at  75  cents  a  word.  His  message  had  to  be 
cabled  to  San  Francisco,  telegraphed  to  Victoria,  and  from  Can- 
ada cabled  back  to  New  Zealand.  That  did  not  seem  efficient  or 
economical  to  the  Committee — in  fact,  it  seemed  a  prohibitive 
condition  of  affairs. 

Again,  the  local  Committee,  before  the  Congress  assembled 
here,  took  the  matter  up  with  the  Navy  wireless  station,  which 
receives  wireless  news  service  in  Honolulu,  and  asked  if  it 
would  not  be  practicable  to  make  this  the  center  of  a  special  wire- 
less at  uniform  rates.  It  appealed  to  him  immensely  and  he  said 
he  would  take  it  up  and  see  what  could  be  done.  He  stated  it 
was  physically  possible  to  make  contact  with  Japan,  but  that  the 
regulations  did  not  permit  him  to  send  messages  to  Japan.  He 
stated  that  it  was  feasible  for  the  radio  station  here  to  transmit 


496      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

messages,  as  far  as  he  knew,  to  New  Zealand  and  Australia,  but 
that  was  not  being  done,  and  that  he  would  ascertain  why  not, 
and  he  commnnicated  with  Washington  and  later  informed  us 
that  it  could  not  be  done. 

We  are  in  daily  communication  with  Samoa,  and  the  Fijis. 
The  cable  from  Samoa  and  Fiji  can  transmit  messages  to  Aus- 
tralia and  New  Zealand,  but  it  cannot  be  done  because  of  a  con- 
tract between  the  cable  company  coming  to  New  Zealand  and 
Australia  from  the  south,  by  which  these  countries  are  prohibited 
from  receiving  telegraphic  or  wireless  except  over  their  cable 
over  a  term  of  years,  except  from  the  sea.  That  was  why  the 
delegate  was  able  to  send  messages  up  to  the  night  before  he 
landed  from  the  steamer.  He  was  prohibited  from  sending  mes- 
sages from  our  local  ofifice  because  of  the  contract  between  New 
Zealand  and  Australia  and  that  cable  company.  That  did  not 
seem  to  be  efficient  or  economical,  when  it  is  within  the  possi- 
bilities of  the  wireless  to  transmit  such  message  at  a  cost  not 
exceeding  9  cents  a  word,  and  the  delegate  had  to  pay  75  cents 
a  word. 

We  recognize  that  the  communications  which  the  gentleman 
spoke  of  by  way  of  the  southern  cable,  and  also  from  Canada, 
is  an  immense  advance  over  the  previous  conditions  when  there 
was  no  cable.  We  recognize  that  the  governments  and  companies 
in  that  connection,  which  the  honorable  gentleman  has  mentioned, 
looked  forward  to  the  time  when  wireless  was  coming,  and  now' 
we  feel  that  the  time  has  arrived  when  there  are  physical  means 
by  which  that  communication  can  be  cheapened  and  made  far 
more  efficient,  so  that  countries  across  the  waters  from  the  United 
States  and  each  other  can  get  into  communication,  and  it  should 
be  recognized  by  this  Conference,  and  they  should  exercise  their 
influence,  so  far  as  practicable,  to  get  wireless  put  into  operation 
as  promptly  as  possible. 

As  to  the  cost,  I  was  told  by  Mr.  McClatchy,  a  director  of  the 
Associated  Press,  that  the  present  service  being  conducted  by  the 
Navy  wireless  will  cost  only  6  cents  a  word  from  San  Francisco 
to  the  Philippines,  and  practically  the  same  to  Japan.  The  present 
service  to  Japan  is  sent  by  wireless  to  Guam,  taken  20  miles  across 
the  Island  and  then  cabled  to  Japan ;  three  charges  for  the  one 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         497 

message — 'in  addition  to  the  delay.  There  is  no  reason,  except 
artificial  obstacles  which  have  been  interposed,  why  the  message 
could  not  go  direct  from  San  Francisco  to  Japan  in  the  twinkling 
of  an  eye,  at  the  rate  of  6  cents  a  word.  The  Chairman  told  me 
only  yesterday  it  was  incredible  to  him  that  such  a  service  could 
be  obtained  and  yet  was  not  available.  It  is  not  our  object  to 
condemn  any  service  of  any  country,  but  to  set  forth  the  fact 
that  this  cheaper  and  more  efficient  service  is  to  be  had,  and  to 
make  a  declaration  on  our  part  that  we  favor  putting  that  cheaper 
service  into  operation  as  soon  as  possible. 

Mr.  McCIvATCHy  :  May  I  supplement  what  Mr.  Thurston  has 
said  by  another  concrete  example.  I  was  told  by  the  editor  of 
the  Nippu  Jiji  that  his  cabled  news  or  wireless  received  from 
Japan  here  in  Honolulu  cost  him  263^^  cents  per  word,  and  that 
a  similar  charge  would  be  made  from  here  to  Japan.  The  Navy 
wireless,  as  you  have  been  told,  is  sending  news  all  the  way  from 
San  Francisco  to  Cavite,  for  6  cents,  and  is  prepared  to  send  from 
San  Francisco  to  Japan  for  6  cents  a  word,  with  the  cooperation 
of  Japan,  and  between  San  Francisco  and  Honolulu  and  Hono- 
lulu and  Manila,  the  rate  is  less.  It  is  obvious  that  the  journal- 
ists of  Japan  are  losing  not  only  money  but  a  great  advantage  in 
the  opportunity  for  an  extended  news  service  which  would  be  of 
value  there  and  here. 

Col.  Lav^son  :  I  think  I  can  explain  in  a  few  words  the 
position  of  the  British  Empire  in  regard  to  this  system,  and  I 
think  I  can  make  the  apparent  difficulties  quite  clear,  if  I  should 
be  allowed  to  do  so.  The  object  of  the  British  Empire  scheme 
of  establishing  and  improving  the  system  of  communications  is 
this — they  are  endeavoring  to  put  their  communications  on  a 
sound  commercial  basis,  and  at  every  station  they  are  endeavoring 
to  establish,  it  is  intended  to  be  a  comanercial  one,  whether  op- 
erated by  private  companies  or  endeavor.  It  is  meant  to  be  com- 
mercial and  permanent,  therefore  I  don't  think  it  is  quite  fair 
to  compare  it  with  the  facilities  which  the  U.  S.  Navy  Depart- 
ment can  put  at  the  disposal  of  the  public  for  communications  in 
the  Pacific.  While  not  wishing  to  depreciate  in  any  way  the 
value  of  that  service,  I  should  like  to  point  out  that  it  is  only  a 
temporary  expedient — unless  the  sanction  is  renewed,  it  will  be 

3] 


498       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World  \ 

void  on  July  22  next,  and  might  be  void  at  any  moment  for 
strategic  or  other  reasons.    Therefore  I  do  not  think  it  quite  fair  i 

to  blame  any  part  of  the  British  Empire  for  failing  to  fall  in  I 

with  what  is  only  a  temporary  expedient.  ^ 

Dr.  Pierson  was  over  in  London  this  summer,  endeavoring  to  ■ 

arrange  these  questions   of   communication  in  conjunction  with  ; 

our  government.     I  have  no  doubt  but  that  if  this  service  which 
is  now  operating  was  operated  on  a  permanent  commercial  basis, 
it  would  be  possible  to  make  some  arrangement  with  the  cable 
companies  of  New  Zealand  and  Australia  and  see  that  the  dif- 
ficulties Mr.  Thurston  speaks  of  do  not  exist.     I  think  that  this  | 
is  the  position  as  regards  the  British  Empire.     It  is  not  because 
they  are  not  doing  their  best  to  improve  the  system  of  communica-  ^ 
tions,  not  only  by  cable  but  by  wireless  by  all  means  in  their  power,  ; 
but  because  they  are  endeavoring  to  get  a  permanent  solution  of 
the  problem,  and  that  will  take  a  very  long  time. 

As  soon  as  the  wireless  chain  is  established,  there  will  be  a 
high-powered  station  in  Australia,  and  that  will  be  the  time  for 
entering  into  these  arrangements  in  the  Pacific,  which  will  make 
arrangements  to  perfect  things  all  through.    I  think  that  explains  ; 

why  our  plans  as  they  now  stand  do  not  fall  in  with  the  temp-  | 

orary  wireless  arrangement  in  operation  now.  \ 

Mr.  Cohen  :  I  thank  Colonel  Lawson  for  his  remarks.     New  j 

Zealand  through  its  delegation  will  cordially  support  him  in  every  ^ 

effort  he  makes  to  cheapen  the  means  of  communication  through-  If 

out  the  world.  And  I  am  quite  sure  that  the  representatives  of 
Australia  will  stand  shoulder  to  shoulder  with  him  in  endeavor- 
ing to  achieve  such  a  desirable  result. 

The  excellent  speech  he  has  made  and  the  cogent  arguments 
he  has  adduced  recall  to  my  mind  the  part  his  family,  the  first 
Lord  Burnham  and  the  present  holder  of  the  title,  played  in  1909  % 

at  the  great  Pan-British  Press  Conference  in  London  in  June  ,> 

of  that  year,  when  the  question  of  cheaper  cable  rates  and  greater  * 

facilities  for  the  transmission  of  foreign  news  was  forced  on 
the  attention  of  the  British  government.    A  committee,  to  which  > 

Canada  contributed  a  strong  contingent,  waited  on  Mr.  Asquith  | 

(then   Prime  Minister)   and  the  Postmaster-General  with  a  re-  ',• 

quest — I  was  almost  tempted  to  say  a  demand — that  the  natural 


Pan-Pacific  Pj-ess  Conference         499 

complement  of  the  Pacific  cable  in  establishing  an  all-Red  cable 
under  the  Atlantic  should  be  immediately  undertaken  by  the 
partners — John  Bull  and  Sons — as  a  great  national  enterprise. 

We  were  most  fortunate  at  that  time  in  having  in  England 
the  presence  of  the  late  Sir  Sandford  Fleming,  the  Canadian 
engineer,  to  whose  fine  spirit  of  optimism  and  constructive  ability 
the  world  owes  much.  And  it  was  a  Canadian  journalist,  Ross 
Gottawa,  whose  faith  in  the  potentialities  of  wireless  pointed  the 
way  to  the  authorities  of  the  British  Post  Office  and  compelled 
them  to  acknowledge  that  Marconi's  wonderful  invention  had 
come  to  stay. 

These  are  matters  of  historical  importance,  and  I  mention 
them  merely  to  emphasize  my  contention  that  as  newspapermen 
we  are  justified  in  pressing  for  the  removal  of  the  disabilities 
under  which  we  at  present  labor.  But  there  is  another  angle 
from  which  this  question  must  be  viewed.  While  we  are  de- 
manding cheaper  and  better  communications  we  must  not  over- 
look the  fact  that  trade  and  commerce  are  even  more  deeply 
concerned  than  ourselves  in  securing  the  paramount  advantages 
of  cheaper,  quicker  and  more  extended  communications ;  whether 
it  ultimately  be  cable  duplication  or  by  improved  wireless,  must 
be  left  to  the  experts  to  determine. 

Returning  for  a  moment  to  the  London  Conference  of  1909, 
that  committee  did  some  splendid  work.  They  induced  the  cable 
companies  to  reduce  their  tariflFs  to  India,  South  Africa,  Ceylon, 
and  Australia ;  they  obtained  "deferred"  and  week-end  messages, 
and  they  might  have  reasonably  anticipated  other  advantages  if 
the  world-war  had  not  summarily  stopped  all  negotiations.  It 
will  be  remembered,  moreover,  that  the  British  government  set 
up  a  Trade  Commission  which  took  evidence  in  every  one  of 
the  British  self-governing  dominions,  and  made  a  series  of  im- 
portant recommendations,  among  them  being  pronouncements  in 
favor  of  cheap  press  and  mercantile  cablegrams,  and  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  chain  of  high-power  wireless  stations  to  embrace 
Great  Britain  and  all  her  dependencies.  The  war  prevented  any 
of  these  recommendations  being  acted  on,  but  I  have  the  best  rea- 
son for  saying  that  successive  Prime  Ministers'  Conferences  in 
London  have  warmly  endorsed  these  findings  and  that  before 


500      The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

another  year  shall  have  passed  a  commencement  will  be  made  in 
erecting  these  high-power  stations. 

But  whether  the  carrying  out  of  this  project  will  be  left  to 
private  enterprise  or  form  part  of  the  activities  of  the  British 
Post  Office  lies  in  the  womb  of  the  near  future.  Whatever  hap- 
pens, it  is  high  time  that  something  were  done  to  terminate  crush- 
ing monopolies  that  can  be  proved  to  be  inimical  to  the  public 
interest.    Let  me  give  two  concrete  illustrations. 

While  we  were  journeying  hither  ward  we  were  able  through 
the  medium  of  the  Australian  Wireless  Company,  which  I  un- 
derstand has  its  headquarters  at  Sydney,  Australia,  and  took  over 
the  Telefunken  wireless  system  from  a  German  syndicate,  to  dis- 
patch radio  messages  either  to  Australia  or  New  Zealand  at  a 
flat  rate  of  9  cents  per  word,  but  the  moment  our  steamer  came 
within  American  territorial  waters  the  Sydney  system  ceased  to 
operate,  and  the  American  operators  demanded  a  tariff  of  75 
cents  per  word !  If  that  is  'not  profiteering,  pure  and  unadul- 
terated, I  cannot  conceive  what  is,  and  in  my  own  country,  would 
be  promptly  investigated  by  our  Board  of  Trade,  who  would 
suggest  a  remedy. 

A  few  days  after  our  arrival  here  we  were  waited  on  by  the 
head  of  the  local  naval  station,  who  most  courteously  offered  to 
dispatch  a  daily  message  of  100  words  to  New  Zealand,  guaran- 
teeing delivery  only  at  Tutuilla  (American  Samoa),  but  prom- 
ising the  assistance  of  his  department  to  get  the  messages  for- 
warded to  Doubtless  Bay  (the  nearest  radio  station  in  the  north- 
ern part  of  New  Zealand).  But  from  the  explanation  made 
by  the  chairman  of  the  New  Zealand  Press  Association,  who  is 
a  member  of  our  delegation,  it  appeared  that  this  organization 
has  an  agreement  with  the  government  of  New  Zealand  which 
prevents  absolutely  the  receipt  of  any  message — by  cable  or  other- 
wise— which  the  Press  Agency  has  not  authorized.  This  is  prob- 
ably done  to  eliminate  competition,  for  the  Press  Association  has 
to  pay  dearly  for  its  foreign  news,  and  therefore  must  avoid  over- 
lapping. 

But  had  we  known  in  time  of  what  your  radio-operators  can 
accomplish  I  am  sure  the  embargo  in  New  Zealand  would  have 
been  lifted  if  the  facts  had  been  brought  under  the  notice  of 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         501 

our  Prime  Minister  when  he  passed  through  Honolulu  a  couple 
of  weeks  ago.  It  would  have  been  an  illuminating  experiment, 
and  would  have  kept  our  people  in  daily  touch  with  the  proceed- 
ings of  this  Conference,  a  considerable  achievement  in  itself. 

Having  no  right  to  pass  judgment  on  the  domestic  policies  of 
the  United  States,  I  merely  remark  in  passing  that  the  plan  out- 
lined by  Mr.  McClatchy  has  no  element  of  permanence,  as  it 
seems  to  me.  Will  your  Congress  agree  to  forward  at  a  flat  rate 
to  any  part  of  the  world  uncensored  press  messages,  which  may 
go  to  the  length  of  camouflaging  the  policies  of  the  Administra- 
tion in  office?  What  we  are  out  for,  apart  from  the  question  of 
cost,  is  real  news ;  in  other  words  it  is  not  quantity  but  quality 
that  counts  even  before  cost. 

Newspaper  publishers,  being  sharp  men  of  business,  will  take 
good  care  that  the  charges  are  more  reasonable ;  but  the  respon- 
sible conductors  of  the  press  all  the  world  over  lie  under  a  grave 
responsibility  to  the  reading  public,  that  the  news  shall  be  abso- 
lutely reliable  and  never  be  "doctored"  to  help  a  partisan  cause  or 
to  wound  the  susceptibilities  of  another  nation.  Far  too  much 
pin-pricking  goes  on  these  days.  Those  "misunderstandings"  of 
which  you  complain  so  bitterly  will  remain  sources  of  national  ill- 
will  so  long  as  public  men  and  press  writers  persist  in  inflaming 
racial  passions  and  take  a  delight  in  suppressing  the  truth. 

Col.  Lawson  has  struck  the  right  note.  Let  us  be  scrupulously 
fair  and  thoroughly  impartial  in  our  criticism  of  our  neighbors' 
policies,  give  them  credit  for  striving  to  be  honest  in  their  inten- 
tions toward  us  just  as  we  expect  them  to  believe  us  to  be  honest, 
unless  the  contrary  can  be  proved,  and  let  us  by  every  legitimate 
means  get  into  closer  touch  with  those  weak  peoples  whose  trials 
and  tribulations  call  aloud  for  redress,  but  whose  actual  position 
is  unknown  to  us.  To  that  consummation  so  devoutly  to  be 
wished,  nothing,  it  appears  to  me,  will  contribute  more  potently, 
more  efifectively,  or  more  readily  than  the  diffusion  of  whole- 
some, authentic,  and  widely-circulated  news,  the  impartial  gar- 
nering of  which  will  constitute  the  raison  d'etre  of  this  World's 
Press  Congress,  now  entering  on  the  third  and  most  important 
period  of  its  career. 


502       2' he  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

The  resolutions,  as  reported  by  Chairman  Thurston,  after  dis- 
cussion and  amendment,  were  adopted.  As  adopted  they  appear 
in  the  report. 


RESOLUTION  OF  THANKS  TO  NEWS  AGENCIES 

After  resuming  the  chair  at  the  conclusion  of  the  afternoon 
session,  Mr.  Alexander  Hume  Ford  stated  that  the  last  business 
of  the  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference  session,  which  would  like- 
wise formally  conclude  the  official  program  of  the  Press  Congress 
of  the  World,  should  be,  he  felt,  an  expression  of  hearty  apprecia- 
tion to  the  various  news  agencies  which  had  contributed  so  sig- 
nally to  the  success  of  the  conference,  both  by  their  comprehen- 
sive news  reports  of  world  events  brought  to  Hawaii  during  the 
session,  and  by  the  notable  wide  service  over  the  world  given  to 
the  Conference  through  these  agencies  and  their  correspondents. 
He  proposed  a  vote  of  thanks  to  the  agencies  individually  and 
collectively  for  their  sympathetic  attitude  in  promoting  a  better 
understanding  through  the  communication  of  news  and  also  for 
the  technical  excellence  with  which  the  United  States  Radio  News 
Service  had  carried  the  dispatches.  The  four  agencies  specified 
are: 

The  Associated  Press,  which  augmented  its  daily  reports  to 
Hawaii  newspapers  with  a  special  1,000  word  report. 

The  Chicago  Tribune  Syndicate  Service,  which  established  es- 
pecially for  the  period  of  the  sessions  of  the  Press  Congress  of 
the  World,  a  3,000  word  daily  news  report,  which  it  collected  in 
its  Chicago  office  from  foreign  news  dispatches  gathered  in  all 
parts  of  the  world. 

The  United  Press,  which  sent  a  fifty- word  dispatch  daily. 

The  United  States  Navy  Radio,  which  made  special  arrange- 
ments to  handle  incoming  and  outgoing  news  as  well  as  placing 
the  daily  news  report  at  the  disposal  of  the  delegates  at  the  Press 
Congress  hearquarters. 

In  addition  to  the  foregoing,  representative  correspondents  of 
other  newspapers  and  news  agencies  were  commended  for  their 
interest  in,  sending  out  complete  reports  of  the  sessions. 

The  chairman's  proposal  was  carried  unanimously  by  a  viva 
voce  vote. 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         503 

CLOSING  WORDS  TO  THE  PAN-PACIFIC  PRESS  CON- 
FERENCE 


By  Alexander  Hume  Ford, 

Director,  Pan-Pacific  Union. 

The  Pan-Pacific  Union  stands  for  service.  Honolulu  is  the 
service  station  of  the  Pacific.  Here  I  have  met  at  one  time  at 
the  Conference  table  the  premiers  of  three  Pacific  countries  and 
this  not  by  premeditation,  but  by  the  accident  of  the  arrival  of  their 
steamers  the  same  day  from  three  different  Pacific  countries. 
This  would  not  be  likely  to  happen  anywhere  else,  and  it  is  be- 
cause of  such  frequent  happenings,  bringing  together  in  Hono- 
lulu the  leading  men  of  thought  and  action  from  different  Pacific 
countries,  that  this  city  was  selected  a  dozen  years  ago  at  the 
First  Pan-Pacific  Convention,  as  the  meeting  place  for  future 
Pan-Pacific  Conferences. 

The  Pan-Pacific  Union  is  calling  a  series  of  Conferences  of 
the  leading  men  in  all  lines  of  thought  and  action  in  the  Pacific. 
It  realizes  that  without  the  co-operation  and  thought  of  the  press 
it  is  powerless  to  go  forward.  The  press  of  the  Pacific  is  today 
the  greatest  educational  force  and  the  greatest  force  for  moral 
uplift  in  the  whole  world. 

In  some  of  our  Pacific  lands  the  newspapers  pride  themselves 
upon  the  fact  that  they  disseminate  the  truth,  that  no  interview 
is  printed  until  it  has  the  approval  of  the  man  interviewed.  The 
truthfulness  of  these  papers  in  local  matters  is  astonishing,  es- 
pecially to  the  American,  but  when  these  same  papers  speak  of 
other  countries  of  the  Pacific  it  is  impossible  for  them  to  verify 
their  information.  They  publish  what  is  sent  to  them  and  copy 
from  foreign  journals,  and,  alas,  all  is  not  well. 

Men  wish  to  do  that  which  is  right,  and  if  it  is  not  too  difficult 
they  will  do  the  right  thing  always.  It  seems  to  me,  therefore,  that 
it  is  the  duty  of  this  body  to  make  it  easy  for  the  journalists  of 
the  Pacific  to  learn  the  truth  about  one  another's  countries,  es- 
pecially the  pleasant,  uplifting  and  encouraging  truths. 


504       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World  I 

You  have  accepted  by  resolution  the  services  of  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Union  and  1  feel  that  its  chief  object  should  now  be  to 
aid  in  disseminating  among  all  countries  of  the  Pacific  the  truth 
about  the  conditions  concerning  each  and  the  actual  modes  of  liv- 
ing and  being  of  their  peoples.  If  we  can  establish  here  at  the 
ocean  crossroads  a  clearing  house  of  accurate  information;  if 
from  this  central  station  we  can  send  in  every  direction  the  cable 
and  wireless  items  that  are  dropped  here,  it  will  be  splendid  for 
Pacific  journalism.  I  believe  that  here  in  Honolulu  men  of  ex- 
perience in  press  matters  would  know  best  as  to  the  items  of  news  i 
that  each  Pacific  country  would  wish  flashed  forward  to  it  and 
if  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  can  serve  in  establishing  such  a  central 
news  gathering  and  disseminating  organization  its  force  is  at 
your  disposal  in  the  attempt.  All  that  would  be  needed  to  make 
it  a  success  will  be  your  co-operation. 

It  is   for  the  Executive  Committee  now  of  the  Pan-Pacific  { 

Press  Conference  to  co-operate  with  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  to  't 

establish  the  service  that  you  desire  and  to  set  the  countries  and 
peoples  of  the  Pacific  press  of  the  world  in  their  true  light. 

The  President  of  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World  has  sug- 
gested that  a  Pan-Pacific  School  of  Journalism  be  established 
here  at  the  ocean  crossroads.  The  Pan-Pacific  Union  will  gladly 
co-operate  with  Dr.  Walter  Williams  and  the  journalists  of  the 
Pacific  who  are  looking  forward  to  such  an  inter-racial  journalis- 
tic school. 

The  proceedings  of  this  Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,  a  book 
of  about  one  hundred  pages,  will  be  printed  and  published  im- 
mediately and  we  trust  that  within  a  week  several  hundred  copies 
will  be  on  their  way  to  Washington  where  the  Disarmament  Con- 
ference is  about  to  open  its  sessions.  It  has  been  intimated  that 
the  views  expressed  by  the  journalists  of  the  Pacific  may  have 
a  valuable  bearing  at  this  time  in  Washington. 

It  may  be  that  an  informal  conference  of  the  press  men  of 
the  Pacific  will  be  held  in  Washington,  as  there  will  be  a  quorum 
of  the  Trustees  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  in  that  city  during  the 
Disarmament  Conference.  It  has  been  suggested  that  at  the  Pan- 
Pacific  Commercial  Conference,  to  be  held  in  Honolulu  next 
September,  that  there  be  a  section  composed  of  the  owners  of 


Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference         505 

newspapers  and  publications  in  Pacific  lands.  This  matter  will 
be  taken  up  and  duly  considered.  If,  as  it  is  hoped,  the  Presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  will  be  with  us  in  Hawaii  next  Septem- 
ber, it  may  be  possible  that  an  inf-ormal  conference  of  presidents 
and  premiers  of  Pacific  lands  may  be  brought  about  in  which 
case  it  may  be  well  to  hold  a  second  Pan-Pacific  Press  Confer- 
ence as  the  leading  newspaper  men  of  the  Pacific  would  undoubt- 
edly visit  Honolulu  on  that  occasion. 

The  Pan-Pacific  Union  is  seeking  to  get  the  leading  men  of  all 
lines  of  thought  and  action  in  Pacific  lands  in  personal  touch  with 
one  another.  We  have  brought  together  the  leading  scientists 
of  the  Pacific  and  they  are  well  organized  in  a  body  that  will 
carry  on  and  meet  again.  The  same  is  true  of  the  educators  and 
now  also  of  the  press  men  of  the  Pacific.  Next  will  be  the  gather- 
ing of  the  leading  business  giants  of  Pacific  lands.  There  was 
once  a  saying  among  business  men  that  there  is  no  friendship  in 
business,  but  this  is  no  longer  a  truism.  The  Pan-Pacific  Union 
holds  that  there  should  be  no  business,  but  friendship,  and  this 
will  come  true. 

I  cannot  but  be  grateful  for  the  kindly  expressions  that  some 
of  the  speakers  have  voiced  concerning  my  personal  part  in  the 
work  of  the  Pan-Pacific  Union.  I  am  grateful  because  it  has 
made  me  certain  that  you  go  back  to  your  homes  in  perfect  as- 
surance that  whatever  the  Pan-Pacific  Union  can  do  to  serve  you 
between  your  meetings,  to  aid  you  in  making  a  permanent  success 
of  your  Pan-Pacific  Congress  body  that  it  will  do.  We  have  asked 
for  your  co-operation  and  you  have  accepted  ours.  In  whatever 
manner  you  wish  us  to  be  of  service  to  you  it  is  but  for  you  to 
call  upon  us,  and  I  trust  you  will  call  upon  us,  for  we  are  here 
to  serve. 


i 


VII. 
APPENDIX. 

In  the  appendix  will  be  found  the  Constitution  of  the  Press 
Congress  of  the  World  as  amended  at  Honolulu,  the  list  of  dele- 
gates and  guests  in  attendance  upon  the  Honolulu  sessions,  and 
several  addresses  prepared  for  but  not  delivered  at  the  Congress 
sessions. 


CONSTITUTION  OF  THE  CONGRESS. 


Article  I — Name. 

This  organization  shall  be  known  as  the  Press  Congress  of 
the  World. 

Article  II— Object. 

Its  object  shall  be  to  advance  by  conference,  discussion  and 
united  effort  the  cause  of  journalism  in  every  honorable  way. 
The  sessions  of  the  Congress  are  to  be  open  to  the  consideration 
of  all  questions  directly  affecting  the  press,  but  discussions  of  re- 
ligion, politics  and  governmental  policies  will  not  be  permitted. 

Article  III — Membership. 

Workers  in  every  department  of  journalism,  in  every  country, 
who  are  engaged  in  promoting  the  highest  standards  and  largest 
welfare  of  the  press,  are  eligible  to  membership. 

Article  IV — Officers. 

The  officers,  who  with  the  exception  of  the  Honorary  Presi- 
dent to  be  chosen  by  the  Governing  Committe,  shall  be  elected  at 
each  session  of  the  Congress  as  follows : 

507 


508       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

An  Honorary  President. 

A  President, 

Two  Vice-Presidents  from  each  co'untry  holding  membership, 

A  Secretary-Treasurer, 

A  Governing  Committee  consisting  of  the  President,  Secre- 
tary-Treasurer and  thirteen  additional  members,  which  shall  have 
general  direction  of  the  activities  of  the  Congress. 

The  members  of  this  Committee  shall  have  power  of  substi- 
tution, and  may  designate  an  Executive  Committee  of  Five.  Va- 
cancies shall  be  filled  by  the  Governing  Committee  upon  recom- 
mendation of  the  countries  affected. 

Article  V — Meetings. 

The  times  and  places  of  meetings  shall  be  determined  by  the 
Executive  Committee. 

Article  VI — Amendments. 

This  constitution  may  be  amended  at  any  meeting  under  pro- 
visions to  be  established  by  the  Executive  Committee. 


DELEGATES  AND  GUESTS  AT  HONOLULU  SESSIONS. 


Agee,  Mrs.  Hamilton  P.  (Fanny  Heaslip  Lea,  pen  name),  short 
story  writer,  2256  Oahu  avenue,  Honolulu,  T.  H. — Delegate. 

Allen,  Mrs.  Henry  J.,  Beacon,  Wichita,  Kansas,  U.  S.  A.  (Tem- 
porary Address:  Topeka,  Kansas) — Delegate. 

Allen,  Riley  H.,  Star-Bulletin,  Honolulu,  T.  H.— Delegate. 

Bailey,  H.  U.,  Republican,  Princeton,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A. — Dele- 
gate. 

Bailey,  Mrs.  H.  U.,  Princeton,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 

Beteta,  Virgilio  Rodriguez,  Spanish  Press  Association,  Central 
American  Press  Association,  Guatemala  City,  Guatemala. 
(Temporary  Address:  Waldorf  Astoria,  New  York  City.) — 
Delegate. 

Blain,  Thomas  J.,  Daily  Item,  Port  Chester,  New  York,  U.  S.  A. 
— Delegate. 


Appendix  509 

Blain,  Mrs.  T.  J.,  Port  Chester,  New  York,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 

Bowen,  L.  H.,  Lincoln  County  Times,  Brookhaven.  Mississippi, 
U.   S.  A.— Delegate. 

Breede,  Adam,  Daily  Tribune,  Hastings,  Nebraska,  U.  S.  A. — 
Delegate. 

Bridgman,  Herbert  L.,  Standard  Union,  Brooklyn,  New  York, 
U.  S.  A.^Delegate. 

Bronson,  E.  S.,  American,  El  Reno,  Oklahoma,  U.  S.  A.  — Dele- 
gate. 

Brown,  James  Wright,  Editor  and  Publisher,  New  York  City, 
U.  S.  A.— Delegate. 

Brown,  Mrs.  James  W.,  New  York  City,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 

Bunker,  F.  F.,  Pan-Pacific  Union,  Honolulu,  T.  H. — Delegate. 

Burney,  Ivan  T.,  Journal  and  Courier,  Little  Falls,  N.  Y.,  U.  S. 
A. — Delegate. 

Cain,  J.  Byron,  News,  Belle  Plaine,  Kansas,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Canavan,  Mrs.  Nancy  B.,  El  Reno,  Oklahoma,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 

Chien,  P.  Y.,  Social  Welfare,  Tientsin,  China. — Delegate. 

Childress,  E.  H.,  Wayne  County  Press,  Fairfield,  Illinois,  U.  S. 
A. — Delegate. 

Chung,  Henry,  Korea  Review,  905  Continental  Trust  Building, 
Washington,  D.  C,  U.  S.  A.— Delegate. 

Clark,  H.  J.,  Herald,  Venice,  California,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Clark,  Mrs.  H.  J.,  Venice,  California,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 

Clarke,  Mrs.  Adna  G.,  Kamehameha  Boy's  School,  Honolulu,  T. 
H. — Delegate. 

Cody,  Frank  J.,  Daily  Post-Herald,  Hilo,  Hawaii. — Delegate. 

Cohen,  Mark,  Star,  Dunedin,  New  Zealand. — Delegate. 

Cohen,  Sarah,  Dunedin,  New  Zealand.— Guest. 

Coutoupis,  Thales,  Nea  Ellas,  Athens,  Greece. — Delegate. 

Cross,  A.  A.,  Kentucky  Press  Association,  Benton,  Kentucky,  U. 
S.  A. — Delegate. 

Davies,  Herbert  Arthur,  Australian  Journalists  Association,  Mel- 
bourne, Australia. — Delegate. 

Dean.  Mrs.  S.  Bobo,  Metropolis,  Miami,  Florida,  U.  S.  A.— 
Delegate. 

Dean,  Miss  Dorothy,  Miami,  Florida,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 


510       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

DeRackin,  S.  E.,  Evening  Outlook,  Santa  Monica,  California,  U. 

S.  A.— Delegate. 
DeRackin,   Mrs.   S.  E.,   Santa  Monica,   California,   U.    S.   A.— 

Guest. 
Dotson,  C.  L.,  420  Riverside  Drive,  New  York  City,  U.  S.  A.— 

Delegate. 
Dow,  B.  C,  Argus-Leader,  Sioux  Falls,  South  Dakota,  U.  S.  A. — 

Delegate. 
Dow,  Mrs.  B.  C,  Sioux  Falls,  South  Dakota,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 
Dunn,   Andrew,    Morning   Bulletin,   Rockhampton,   Queensland, 

Australia. — Delegate. 
Easton,  William,  Times,  Dunedin,  New  Zealand. — Delegate. 
Edgecombe,  Frank  O.,  Nebraska  Signal,  Geneva,   Nebraska,  U. 

S.  A.— Delegate. 
Edgecombe,  Mrs.  Frank  O.,  Geneva,  Nebraska,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 
Elder,  Orville,  Evening  Journal,  Washington,  Iowa,  U.  S.  A. — 

Delegate. 
Evans,  Miss  Margaret,  520  Menzies  St.,  Victoria,  B.  C. — Delegate. 
Fogg,  Charles  H.,  Times,  Houlton,  Maine,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Fogg,  Mrs.  Charles  H.,  Houlton,  Maine,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 
Ford,  Alexander  Hume,  Pan-Pacific  Union,  Honolulu,  T.  H. — 

Delegate. 
Farrington,  Wallace  R.,  Star-Bulletin,  Honolulu,  T.  H. — Delegate. 
Frear,  Mrs.  W.  F.,   1434  Punahou  Street,  Honolulu,  T.  H.— 

Delegate. 
Frye,  Miss  Helen  M.,  League  of  American  Pen  Women,  Washing- 
ton, D.  C,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 
Glass,  Frank  P.,  American  Newspaper  Publishers  Association, 

Birmingham.  Alabama,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Glass,  Mrs.  Frank  P.,  2030  Quinlon,  Birmingham,  Alabama,  U. 

S.  A. — Guest. 
Glass,  Frank  P.,  Jr.,  World,  New  York  City.  U.  S.  A.— Delegate. 
Glass,  Mrs.  Frank  P.,  Jr.,  New  York  City,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 
Goldthwaite,  S.  G.,  News-Republican,  Boone,  Iowa,  U.  S.  A. — 

Delegate. 
Goldthwaite,  Mrs.  S.  G.,  Boone,  Iowa,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 
Gordon,  Marshall,  Missouri  Press  Association,  Columbia,  Mis- 
souri, U.  S.  A. — Delegate, 


I 


Appendix  511 

Gordon,  Mrs.  Marshall,  Columbia,  Missouri,  U.  S.  A. — ^^Guest. 
Greason,  W.  D.,  Miami  Republican,  Paola,  Kansas,  U.  S.  A. — 

Delegate. 
Grisson,  Miss  Maybel  Louise,  Michigan  Woman's  Press  Associa- 
tion, Grand  Ledge,  Michigan,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Hadley,  Charles  C,    Kennett    News    and    Advertiser,    Kennett 

Square,  Pennsylvania,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Hadley,  Mrs.  Charles  C,  Kennett  Square,  Pennsylvania,  U.  S.  A. 

— Guest. 
Hale,  H.  B.,  Gazette,  East  Hartford,  Connecticut,  U.  S.  A. — 

Delegate. 
Hale,  Mrs.  H.  B.,  East  Hartford,  Connecticut,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 
Hall,  Frederick  P.,  Journal,  Jamestown,  New  York,  U.  S.  A. — 

Delegate. 
Harris,   Mrs.    Ralph   A.,   Herald,   Ottawa,    Kansas,   U.    S.   A. — 

Delegate. 
Heenan,   David,  Jr.,  250  Kaiulaui   avenue,   Honolulu,   T.   H. — 

Delegate. 
Herrick,  John  P.,  Bolivar  Breeze,  Olean,  New  York,  U.  S.  A. — 

Delegate. 
Herrick,  Mrs.  John  P.,  Olean,  New  York,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 
Hersey,  Miss  Mary  S.,  Milton,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 
Hodges,  W.  R.,  Herald-Dispatch,  Sleepy  Eye,  Minnesota,  U.  S. 

A. — Delegate. 
Hornaday,  William  D.,  School  of  Journalism,  University  of  Texas, 

Austin,  Texas,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Hsu,  Jabin,  China  Press,  Shanghai,  China. — Delegate, 
lies,  Harry,  Southwest  Builder  and  Contractor,  Los  Angeles,  Cali- 
fornia, U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Innes,  Guy,  Herald,  Melbourne,  Australia. — Delegate. 
Innes,  Mrs.  Guy,  Melbourne,  Australia. — Guest. 
Johnston,  F.  H.,  Review,  Hermosa  Beach,  California,  U.  S.  A. 

— Delegate. 
Johnston,  Mrs.  F,  H.,  Hermosa  Beach,  California,  U.  S.  A. — 

Guest. 
Johnston,  Miss  W.  Valeria,  Hermosa  Beach,  California,  U.  S.  A. 

— Delegate. 


512       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Junkin,  J.  E.,  National  Editorial  Association,  Miami,  Florida,  U. 
S.  A.— Delegate. 

Junkin,  Mrs.  J.  E.,  Miami,  Florida,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 

Kelly,  Eugene,  Tribune,  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Kelly,  Mrs.,  Eugene,  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 

Kern,  Frank  L.,  Worth  While  Magazine,  1021  S.  Berendo  street, 
Los  Angeles,  California,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Kessell,  John  Henry,  Gladstone  Observer,  Gladstone,  Queensland, 
Australia. — Delegate. 

Kessell,  Mrs.  J.  H.,  Gladstone,  Queensland,  Australia. — Guest. 

Kettle,  William  R.,  Evening  Star,  Greymouth,  New  Zealand. — 
Delegate. 

Kettle,  Mrs.  W.  R.,  Greymouth,  New  Zealand. — Guest. 

Kettle,  Miss  Viola,  Greymouth,  New  Zealand. — 'Guest. 

Kim,  Dong-sung,  Dong-A  Daily,  Seoul,  Korea. — Delegate. 

Kline,  Gardiner,  Evening  Recorder,  Amsterdam,  New  York,  U. 
S.  A.— Delegate. 

Klock,  Jay  E.,  Daily  Freeman,  Kingston,  New  York,  U.  S.  A. — 
Delegate. 

Kriegesman,  George  W.,  News-Times,  Webster  Groves,  Missouri, 
U.  S.  A.— Delegate. 

Langley,  Doris  H.,  Herald,  Tippecanoe  City,  Ohio,  U.  S.  A. — 
Delegate. 

Lawson,  Col.  Edward  Frederick,  Daily  Telegraph,  London,  Eng- 
land.— Delegate. 

Lawson,  Mrs.  E.  F.,  London,  England. — Guest. 

Lazo,  Agustin,  Havana  Reporters  Association,  Herald  of  Cuba, 
Havana,  Cuba. — Delegate. 

LeFavour,  Mrs.  Helen,  Amsterdam,  New  York,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 

Lennon,  Mrs.  C.  W.,  Sioux  City,  Iowa,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 

Logan,  Daniel,  National  Magazine,  Boston,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. — 
Delegate. 

Mayrand,  Oswald,  La  Presse,  Montreal,  Canada. — Delegate. 

Medary,  Edgar  F.,  Democrat,  Waukon,  Iowa,  U.  S.  A. — Dele- 
gate. 

Mezquida,  Mrs.  Anna  Blake,  League  of  American  Pen  Women, 
969  Pine  street,  San  Francisco,  California,  U.  S.  A.— Dele- 
gate. 


Appendix  513 

Mills,  Frank  M.,  On  the  Cars,  Sioux  Falls,  South  Dakota,  U.  S. 
A. — ^Delegate. 

Mills,  Mrs.  Frank  M.,  Sioux  Falls,  South  Dakota,  U.  S.  A.— 
Guest. 

Mitchell,  Miss  Frances  C.  Centralia  Courier,  Columbia,  Missouri, 
U.  S.  A.— Delegate. 

Morris,  John  R.,  Japan  Advertiser,  Tokyo,  Japan. — Delegate. 

McAdams,  Mrs.  A.  G.,  Dallas,  Texas,  U.  S.  A.-^Guest. 

McClatchy,  V.  S.,  Bee,  Sacramento,  California,  U.  S.  A. — Dele- 
gate. 

McClatchy,  Mrs.  V.  S.,  Sacramentfo,  California,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 

McCullough,   William,   Thames   Star,   Thames,   Auckland,    New 
Zealand. — Delegate. 

McKeown,  Mrs.  Lillian,  Sun  and  Evening  Telegram,  San  Ber- 
nardino, California,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

McMaster,  C.  H.,  Tribune,  Galveston,  Texas,  U.  S.  A.— Delegate. 

McMaster,  Mrs.  C.  H.,  Galveston,  Texas,  U.  S.  A.  —Guest. 

Ness,  John  F.,  Honolulu  Press  Club. — Delegate. 

Nevin,  C.  E.,  Advocate,  Laurel,  Nebraska,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Nieva,  Gregorio,  Philippine  Review,  Manila,  P.  L — Delegate. 

Nolen,  Miss  Anna  E.,  News,  Monroe  City,  Missouri,  U.  S.  A. — 
Delegate. 

Orcutt,  Reginald  W.,  Linotype  Bulletin,   1219  Madison  avenue. 
New  York  City,  U.  S.  A.^Delegate. 

Orcutt,  Mrs.  Reginald  W.,  New  York  City.  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 

Patton,  H.  W.,  special  writer,  Hoquiam,  Washington,  U.  S.  A. — 
Delegate. 

Perry,  Miss  Eugenie,  Canadian  Women's  Press  Club,  Victoria, 
B.  C— Delegate. 

Petrie,  Thomas,  South  China  Morning  Post,  Hongkong,  China. — 
Delegate. 

Petrie,  Mrs.  Thomas,  Hongkong,  China. — Guest. 

Pierce,  Henry  Douglas,  Vinton-Pierce  Building,  Indianapolis.  In- 
diana, U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Powell,  H.  J.,  Journal,  Cofifeyville,  Kansas,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Powell,  Mrs.  H.  J.,  Coffeyville,  Kansas,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 

Reed.    Mrs.    Emma   Livingston,    Southern    California   Woman's 
Press  Club,  Los  Angeles,  California,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
33 


514       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Richardson,  J.  A.,  Sunflower  Tocsin,  Indianola,  Mississippi,  U. 
S.  A. — Delegate. 

Rhodes,  Mrs.  John  F.,  Hutchinson,  Kansas,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Saxe,  Ludvig,  Verdens  Gang,  Christiania,  Norway. — Delegate. 

Schuler,  Mrs.  Maud,  Gadsden,  Alabama,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 

Shaw,  Mrs.  Mabel  S.,  Evening  Telegraph,  Dixon,  Illinois,  U.  S. 
A. — Delegate. 

Smith,  C.  Stanley,  Evening  Star,  Dunedin,  New  Zealand. — ^Dele- 
gate. 

Smith,  Mrs.  C.  Stanley,  Dunedin,  New  Zealand. — Guest. 

Smith,  William  J.,  Daily  Sun,  Waukegan,  Illinois,  U.  S.  A. — 
Delegate. 

Soga,  Y.,  Nippu  Jiji,  P.  O.  Box  897,  Honolulu,  T.  H.— Delegate. 

Southern,  William,  Jr.,  Daily  Examiner,  Independence,  Missouri, 
U.  S.  A.— Delegate. 

Southern,  Miss  Caroline,  Daily  Examiner,  Independence,  Mis- 
souri, U.   S.  A. — Delegate. 

Stone,  John  I.,  Honolulu  Press  Club,  Honolulu,  T.  H. — Delegate. 

Sturgis,  H.  S.,  Times,  Neosho,  Missouri,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Sturgis,  Mrs.  H.  S.,  Neosho,  Missouri,  U.  S.  A.— Guest. 

Sugimura,  K.,  Asahi  Shimbun,  Tokyo,  Japan. — Delegate. 

Temple,  Mrs.  Oda  M.,  Republican,  Mountain  Home,  Idaho,  U. 
S.  A.— Delegate. 

Thorpe,  Mrs.  George  C,  Quarters  A.  Marine  Barracks,  Pearl 
Harbor,  T.  H.— Delegate. 

Thurston,  L.  A.,  Advertiser,  Honolulu,  T.  H. — Delegate. 

Tong,  Hollington  K.,  North  China  Star,  Peking,  China. — Dele- 
gate. 

Townsend,  Mrs.  Georgina  S.,  5703  Victoria  avenue,  Los  Angeles, 
California,  U.  S.  A.,  (President,  Southern  California  Wo- 
man's Press  Club.) — Delegate. 

Traer,  Mrs.  Louise  M.,  Eagle,  Vinton,  Iowa,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 

Underbill,  Edwin  S.,  Leader,  Corning,  New  York,  U.  S.  A. — 
Delegate. 

Wang,  K.  P.,  Shun  Pao,  Shanghai,  China. — ^Delegate. 

Wang,  T.  M.,  Shun  Pao,  Shanghai,  China. — Delegate. 

Ward.  Miss  Etta  L.  Courier,  Winchendon,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. — 
Delegate. 


Appendix  515 

Warren,  Mrs.  John  Trenholm,  Honolulu  Press  Club,  Box  769, 

Honolulu,  T.  H.— Delegate. 
Watts,  Arretta  L.,  Long  Beach,  California,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Wilke,  Will,  Gazette,  Grey  Eagle,  Minnesota,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Wilke,   Clyde  S.,  Gazette,   Grey  Eagle,   Minnesota,  U.   S.   A. — 

Delegate. 
Williams,   Walter,    Dean    School    of    Journalism,    University    of 

Missouri,  Columbia,  Missouri,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Wong,  Hin,  Star,  Canton,  China. — Delegate. 
Woodring,  Mrs.   Charlotte,  Journal,  Peru,  Indiana,  U.   S.  A. — 

Delegate. 
Woods,  G.  A.,  Boomer,  El  Reno,  Oklahoma,  U.  S.  A. — Delegate. 
Xanders,  Mrs.  Amanda  L.,  League  of  American  Pen  Women, 

York,  Pennsylvania,  U.   S.  A.  — Delegate. 
Yamagata,  I.,  Press,  Seoul,  Korea. — Delegate. 
Zerbey,  Maj.  J.  H.,  Jr.,  Republican,  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  U. 

S.  A. — Delegate. 
Zerbey,  Elizabeth,  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  U.  S.  A. — Guest. 
Zerbey,  Mildred,  Pottsville,  Pennsylvania,  U.  S.  A. — 'Guest. 
Zumoto,  Motosada,  Herald  of  Asia,  Tokyo,  Japan — Delegate. 


IN  THE  EDITORIAL  "CROW'S  NEST' 


By  Joe  Mitchell  Chapple, 
Editor,  National  Magazine,  Boston,  Massachusetts,  U.  S.  A. 

Nations  are  figuratively  referred  to  as  "Ships  of  State,"  sail- 
ing on  oceans  wide.  Longfellow's  allusion  to  the  United  States 
during  the  dark  days  of  the  Civil  War  sounded  the  clarion  call  of 
world  union:     "Thou,  too,  oh  Ship  of  State,  sail  on,  sail  on!" 

In  these  days  of  revolutionary  typhoons  the  tides  of  the 
"Seven  Seas" — confined  to  Aegean  shores  in  ancient  days — have 
extended  their  ebb  and  flow  to  all  nations  of  the  earth.  The  swift 
currents  and  course  of  human  events  have  merged  and  turned  the 
tides  of  world  thought  toward  the  discovery  of  a  great  common 
sea  of  humanity. 


516       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

It  is  fitting  that  the  World  Press  Congress,  meeting  in  the 
mid-waters  of  an  ocean  christened  because  of  the  placid  view  it 
first  presented  to  Balboa  on  the  heights  of  Darien,  should  con- 
sider the  Pacific  question  in  its  broadest  sense  as  the  great  prob- 
lem of  the  hour. 

From  the  earliest  time  that  a  sail  carried  man  and  cargo  far 
over  seas,  the  man  in  the  "crow's  nest"  has  been  the  one  to  warn 
of  danger,  or  give  the  joyful  shout  of  "land  ho !"  or  "ship  ahoy !" 
Whether  a  crude  galley  of  ancient  days  or  the  modern  leviathan, 
the  man  in  the  lookout  remains  indispensable  as  an  assurance  that 
the  "port  of  safety"  will  be  reached. 

Since  the  days  of  Gutenberg  and  the  invention  of  movable 
types,  the  editor  or  the  writer  has  been  in  the  "crow's  nest"  of 
the  "ships  of  state."  Statesmen  rise  to  imperishable  fame  or  sink 
into  oblivion — leaders  come  and  go — from  reckonings  determined 
by  the  man  in  the  "crow's  nest."  The  reference  to  the  editor  in  the 
lookout  is  not  merely  a  matter  of  professional  praise,  for  he  has 
often  been  wrong  as  well  as  right.  It  indicates  how  the  log  of 
the  Ship  of  State  is  anade  up  from  the  estimate  of  new  leaders 
appearing  on  the  horizon,  crystalized  into  biographies  which  con- 
stitute the  chronicles  of  peoples,  nations,  and  events. 

The  history  of  the  United  States  is  interwoven  with  the  files 
of  its  newspapers,  which  have  always  been  a  vital  factor  in  the 
every  day  thought  and  activities  of  our  national  life.  From  the 
time  that  the  first  newspaper  was  printed  in  the  western  hemis- 
phere— when  the  Boston  News  Letter  came  out  of  the  press  damp 
and  limp — ^the  "Voice  of  the  People,"  shouting  from  aloft, 
through  contributor's  columns,  editorials,  or  blazing  headlines, 
have  represented  the  dominating  influence  of  public  opinion,  re- 
flected in  the  American  newspapers. 

Even  the  thought  that  their  ideas  would  be  further  exploited 
and  heralded  in  the  newspapers  may  well  have  inspired  the  im- 
passioned addresses  of  Patrick  Henry  and  James  Otis  and  other 
crusaders  for  liberty  in  critical  colonial  days. 

The  American  press  has  ever  taken  cognizance  of  the  doings 
of  the  humblest  individual,  whether  it  be  John  Jones  painting  his 
barn,  or  Sally,  the  society  queen.  pOAvdering  her  nose.  A  na- 
tion of  one  hundred  million  humans,  distinct  as  individuals  in 


Appendix  517 

some  way,  at  some  time,  come  within  personal  survey  of  the  edi- 
tor's "crow's  nest."  Newspapers  are,  in  fact,  the  people.  They 
constitute  the  very  soul  of  our  body  politic. 

The  editor  in  the  "crow's  nest"  may  give  the  warning,  but 
on  the  deck  below,  holding  a  firm  hand  on  the  helm,  is  the  master 
of  the  ship,  a  representative  of  the  people,  in  a  representative 
republic.  The  captain  on  our  "Ship  of  State"  at  this  time  is 
President  Warren  G.  Harding,  backed  by  the  suffrage  of  a  score 
of  millions  of  voters.  He  is  also  the  Honorary  President  of 
this  Congress.  As  an  editor,  he  has  occupied  the  "crow's  nest." 
His  glasses  have  been  intensified  with  a  range  widened  into  the 
scope  of  world  affairs.  His  calm  poise  at  this  time,  when  heavy 
seas  are  rolling,  calls  to  mind  Walt  Whitman's  tribute  to  Lin- 
coln. 

"O  Captain  !  my  Captain  ! 

The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people  all  exulting, 
While  follow  eyes  the  steady  keel,  the  vessel  firm  and  daring." 
Here,  indeed,  we  find  a  poetic  and  appropriate  setting  for 
deliberations  outlined  in  the  thought  of  the  great  discoverer  who 
rapturously  cried  "The  Pacific !"  Even  the  name  suggests  the 
object  of  the  discussion.  The  world  is  looking  forward  to  the 
limitation  of  armament  as  a  means  of  establishing  enduring  peace. 
The  Pacific  question  is  the  great  problem  of  the  world  future. 
The  European  situation  involves  problems  of  yesterday.  Peace 
treaties  of  London,  Paris,  Vienna,  Berlin  have  in  the  past  ac- 
complished cessation  from  war,  but  never  have  they  reached  a 
determination  on  the  Limitation  of  Armament  as  a  prevention 
of  bloodshed,  nor  did  they  quell  the  lust  for  territorial  gain  and 
the  revenge  of  racial  hatred. 

Nations  now  join  in  a  cry  for  peace,  a  peace  that  will  pre- 
serve rather  than  destroy.  Centuries  have  swung  around  and  the 
Orient  is  being  rediscovered ;  China  with  its  most  ancient  of  civili- 
zations ;  Japan  with  its  millions  of  virile  people ;  India,  Egypt, 
Persia,  Siberia,  and  Russia  all  seeking  their  new  destiny  in  the  so- 
lution of  the  Pacific  question.  The  waters  of  the  Pacific  have  never 
been  reddened  by  a  great  naval  battle  for  conquest.  The  Orient 
gives  back  to  the  Occident  ideals  of  an  ancient  civilization,  which 
may  have  suggestions  for  a  future  of  world  happiness.  China, 
the  very  country  where  gunpowder  was  first  manufactured,  but 


518       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

never  used  for  destruction  of  life — where  with  their  original 
mariner's  compass  it  was  first  discovered  that  the  world  was 
round,  but  the  knowledge  not  utilized  for  conquest — may  furnish 
a  new  angle  from  the  ancient  arts  of  peace,  as  practised  in  those 
cycles  of  Cathay. 

Thus  all  the  powers  of  civilization,  old  and  new^— all  the 
energies  of  the  united  world  thought,  are  concentrated  today 
upon  building  enduring  temples  of  peace.  Here  in  Hawaii,  where 
volcanoes  have  erupted  with  wild  fury,  leaving  around  them  this 
Paradise  of  beauty,  with  its  soft,  witching  tone  color,  in  a  cli- 
mate suggestive  of  poise  and  content,  soothing  thoughts  condu- 
cive to  sane  decision  should  ensue. 

Honolulu,  one  of  the  fairest  monuments  to  modern  civiliza- 
tion, may  become  the  friendly  meeting  place  as  the  "house  by  the 
side  of  the  seas,"  where  new  ideals  of  the  friendship  of  men 
may  flower.  The  welcome  to  the  World  Press  Congress  ex- 
presses ideals  of  Pan-Pacific  unity  that  are  inspiring.  Editors 
who  here  foregather  have  occupied  the  "crow's  nest"  in  all 
parts  of  the  world,  and  have  had  all  points  of  view,  but  all 
will  agree  that  this  metropolis  of  the  cross-roads  of  the  Pacific 
may  become  another  Hague  tribunal,  triumphant  in  uniting  the 
nations  in  the  bonds  of  the  encircled  golden  garlands  of  the  lei, 
which  comes  with  the  welcome  to  wonderful  Hawaii. 

Significant  in  the  trend  of  recent  events  is  the  fact  that  the 
League  of  Nations,  presumed  by  some  to  be  in  conflict  with  the 
ideals  of  the  Washington  conference  for  the  limitation  of  ar- 
mament which  meets  in  November,  has  sent  greetings  to  that 
assembly,  asking  them  to  grapple  this  fundamental  proposition 
of  the  Limitation  of  Armament.  This  reflects  the  desire  of  all 
nations  drawing  closer  together  in  consideration  of  these  prob- 
lems. The  doors  of  the  Pan  American  Building  in  Washington, 
owned  by  twenty-six  nations  of  the  Americas,  have  been  thrown 
wide  open  to  discuss  and  settle  the  great  question  of  the  hour. 
With  the  skylight  of  the  patios  of  this  building  drawn  aside,  the 
conference  may  convene  under  the  canopy  of  heaven,  without 
reflection  from  such  as  the  Hall  of  Mirrors  at  Versailles.  The 
spectres  of  designing  diplomats,  and  rife  intrigue,  playing  with 
peoples  as  pawns  in  a  game  of  war  and  peace,  will  not  shadow 


Appendix  519 

the  promised  blessing  of  the  great  Source  of  sunshine  and  per- 
fect peace.  Here  will  prevail  the  supreme  object  of  drawing 
the  fangs  of  armament  and  preventing  the  sowing  of  the  dragon's 
teeth  for  future  wars.  The  whims  of  "war  lords,"  whether  of 
royal  birth  or  commercial  power,  can  never  again  bring  a  deluge 
of  human  blood,  leaving  behind  a  waste  and  gruesome  misery. 

There  to  record  and  chart  the  destiny  of  nations,  the  editors 
in  the  "crow's  nest"  will  be  on  watch.  No  longer  may  a  trifling 
incident  be  used  to  fan  a  revolution  or  a  declaration  of  war. 
Those  pricking  quills,  inspired  by  greed,  intrigue,  ambition,  and 
hate,  must  be  disarmed  before  the  floodgates  of  war  can  be 
closed.  There  have  been  men  in  the  "crow's  nest"  who  served 
as  free-booters,  sailing  under  banners  shadowed  with  the  pirate's 
grisly  emblem  of  the  skull  and  crossbones. 

The  editorial  "crow's  nest"  cannot  be  fouled  with  its  own  am- 
bition and  lust  of  power  if  the  happiness  of  the  world  is  to  be 
attained. 

In  my  modest  editorial  "crow's  nest"  there  has  appeared  to 
me  one  great  anchor  of  Hope.  In  personal  observation  on  fields 
of  battle  overseas  during  the  darkest  days  of  the  World  War — 
in  the  day  of  tension  following  the  armistice,  when  dawned  the 
pure  white  light  of  promised  peace — in  a  trip  across  the  conti- 
nent of  my  own  country  in  contact  with  the  people  day  after 
day,  there  has  appeared  to  me  this  one  harbinger  of  hope. 

It  is  woman! 

Woman's  entrance  into  the  real  affairs  of  the  world  will,  in 
my  judgment,  save  the  race.  In  the  United  States,  Canada,  Eng- 
land, and  other  divisions  of  the  British  Empire  she  has  the  bal- 
lot, but  the  influence  of  women's  voice  and  power  extends  to 
every  nook  and  corner  of  the  world.  She  has  become  a  part 
of  the  warp  and  woof  of  our  economic  fabric.  Wherever  the 
word  "home"  is  understood  or  idealized,  the  influence  and  power 
of  mothers  and  women  is  being  felt.  The  primal  instinct  of  pro- 
tecting her  young  and  refusing  longer  to  furnish  her  own  flesh 
and  blood  to  feed  the  maw  of  war,  makes  woman  a  dominant 
factor  in  the  destiny  of  nations.  Her  instinct  is  preservation  of 
the  race. 

With  her  power  of  the  ballot  she  seeks  to  protect  her  own 


520       The  Press  Congress  of  the  f For  Id 

and  her  home  from  the  ravages  of  commercial  greed  which  had 
often  led  to  wars.  The  economic  question  involved  in  providing 
food  for  her  young,  whom  she  has  oft  seen  dying  of  starvation 
in  her  arms,  while  armament  and  wars  increase,  is  now  a  problem 
for  all  nations. 

Motherlands  have  supplanted  fatherlands.  The  mother's 
intuition  has  been  awakened.  Woman  has  stood  at  the  sacrificial 
altar  of  wars,  ceAtury  after  century,  giving  of  her  treasure — 
her  own  flesh  and  blood.  She  has  been  the  vicarious  atonement 
for  the  sins  of  men.  The  world-wide  maternal  influence  is  glori- 
fied, yes,  deified — more  than  ever  before  in  the  history  of  the 
world  since  the  days  of  Mary  and  the  Manger.  The  Star  of 
Bethlehem  guided  the  men  of  the  East,  not  to  a  throne  supported 
by  might  or  relying  upon  military  armament  to  maintain  life, 
and  power,  but  to  a  lowly  manger,  o'er  which  hangs  the  eternal 
halo  of  a  mother's  love. 

The  guiding  influence  of  the  editor  in  the  "crow's  nest"  is  an 
intuitive  and  composite  knowledge  of  humanity.  The  vision  he 
commands  encircles  all  activities  and  phases  of  life.  He  knows 
about  laws  and  courts  and  recognizes  the  home  as  the  bulwark 
of  enduring  happiness.  He  knows  industry  in  its  demands ;  and 
the  whir  of  wheels  is  music  if  attuned  to  the  labor  of  the  fields. 
He  is  familiar  with  the  ideals  of  the  church  and  the  cabaret,  the 
gentle  soul  of  love  and  the  jarry  jazz.  He  rambles  with  the  rich 
man,  ponders  with  the  poor  man — in  all  cases  he  seeks  first  the 
common  ground  of  an  understanding  of  human  beings.  The 
editor  in  the  "crow's  nest"  at  sea  has  a  counterpart  in  the  editor 
of  the  sanctum.  He  lives  in  the  "house  by  the  side  of  the  road" 
and  sees  the  procession  of  men  pass  by.  But  never  can  he  sit 
in  the  scorner's  seat,  for  he  knows  that  amid  all  the  rush  and  jar 
of  life  the  greatest  achievement  of  man  comes  with  the  prayer: 

"Write  me  as  one  that  loves  his  fellow-man." 

The  name  of  Abou  ben  Adhem  was  written  first  in  the  book 
of  gold  and  led  all  the  rest  because  he  loved  his  fellow-man. 
Responsive  to  the  heart  impulse  of  the  people,  the  editor  knows 
what  makes  sunny  days  enduring  and  dark  days  endurable. 

Whether  in  the  dangers  that  threaten  in  prosperity,  or  the 
blows  and  blights  of  adversity,  he  knows  that  the  heart  must 
reign  supreme. 


Appendix  521 

In  shadow  and  sunshine,  storm  and  tempest,  the  editor  in  the 
"crow's  nest"  will  stick  to  his  post  with  a  conviction  that  the  old 
Ship  of  State  carries  the  sheet  anchor  of  Hope  for  "man  born 
of  woman" — and  that  the  Port  of  Humanity  is  the  one  haven 
big  enough  to  ensure  enduring  peace  and  happiness  for  all  the 
race. 

That  harbor  surely  affords  safe  anchorage  for  all  of  God's 
children. 


JOURNALISM  IN  KOREA 


By  DoNG-SuNG  Kim, 
Representative  of  the  Dong-A  Daily,  Seoul,  Korea. 

Journalism  is  nothing  new  in  Korea.  The  Official  Gazette, 
which  was  not  unlike  the  modern  official  organ  of  a  government, 
was  started  in  the  tenth  century.  The  movable  metal  type  was 
invented  by  our  ancestors  long  before  it  was  known  in  Europe. 
But  the  real  modern  newspaper  began  its  publications  quarter 
of  a  century  ago.  To  be  exact  the  Independent  News  which  lived 
but  a  short  life  under  the  old  regime  was  published  in  the  year 
of  1894.  The  Capital  News  succeeded  it  until  the  time  of  Jap- 
anese annexation,  1910.  There  were  several  minor  papers  which 
were  stopped  simultaneously  with  the  annexation. 

With  the  annexation  came  the  suppression  of  free  press. 
The  first  Korean  periodical  that  appeared  since  was  a  literary 
magazine  called  Chung-chun  or  The  Youth,  edited  by  Choi  Nam- 
sun,  later  known  as  the  author  of  the  famous  Korean  Declara- 
tion of  Independence.  The  Youth  was  the  guiding  light  in  a 
stormy  sea.  Although  it  was  supposed  to  be  a  monthly  magazine, 
only  fifteen  numbers  appeared  during  its  existence  from  Sep- 
tember, 1914,  to  the  time  of  Mr.  Choi's  arrest  in  1919.  The  rea- 
son was  that  the  manuscripts  had  to  be  submitted  to  the  censor, 
who  might  keep  them  for  months  as  he  turned  over  pages  in 
search  of  some  "dangerous  thoughts"  or  undesirable  articles.     In 


522       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

case  he  found  anything  that  was  in  any  way  not  in  accord  with 
the  policy  of  the  government;  he  would  blue-pencil  that  par- 
ticular section  or  the  entire  manuscripts  for  the  month.  In  those 
days  hardly  a  page  of  manuscript  was  OK'ed  by  the  censor  as 
it  was  turned  in  to  him. 

In  order  to  obtain  the  necessary  permit  for  his  publication, 
it  is  said  that,  Mr.  Choi  had  to  visit  the  Government  offices  every 
day  for  about  three  years  until  finally  he  was  given  a  permit  to 
run  his  press.  His  personality  and  enthusiasm  induced  even  the 
authorities  of  that  time  to  give  him  a  permit,  which  was  regarded 
as  nothing  less  than  a  miracle.  Nevertheless,  it  was  a  credit  to 
the  Japanese  authorities  in  those  dark  days. 

Of  newspapers,  there  was  for  several  years  only  one  semi- 
official organ,  the  Maill-Shinpo.  This  was  the  paper  formerly 
owned  by  the  late  Mr.  E.  T.  Bethell,  a  British  subject.  It  was 
purchased  by  the  Japanese  government  in  Korea  and  turned 
into  a  semi-official  organ.  The  public  had  to  take  news  through 
this  medium  whether  they  liked  it  or  not,  and  it  enjoyed  the 
distinction  of  being  the  only  newspaper  printed  in  Korean  lan- 
guage until  the  time  of  Mansei  demonstrations  in  1919.  As 
a  direct  result  of  that  disturbance,  Korea  has  now  three  daily 
papers  besides  the  semi-official  organ,  and  twenty  odd  magazmes 
mostly  on  general  culture. 

Baron  Saito,  the  new  Japanese  Governor-General,  has  done 
many  things  worth  while  for  the  welfare  of  the  Korean  people, 
one  of  which  was  the  permission  he  gave  on  January  6th,  1920, 
to  publish  three  daily  newspapers  in  Korean.  Evidently  he  realized 
that  it  would  be  far  better  for  all  concerned  to  give  the  people 
some  opportunity  of  expressing  their  grievances  than  to  suppress 
thoughts  which  might  generate  more  agitation.  Heretofore  the 
people  had  been  compelled  to  be  blind,  deaf  and  mute. 

Among  the  three  hundred  and  forty  thousand  Japanese  in 
Korea,  there  are  twenty-three  dailies,  three  weeklies  and  eight 
monthlies,  all  published  in  Japanese,  besides  four  news  agencies. 
The  Seoul  Press  is  an  English  edition. 

Among  the  eighteen  million  Koreans  in  Korea,  there  were 
three  but  now  only  two  dailies  permitted.  Shisa-Shin-moon  or 
The  Times  is  already  a  thing  of  the  past.     It  was  the  organ  of 


Appendix  523 

the  National  Association,  the  head  of  which  was  the  late  Min 
Won-shik.  The  policy  of  this  journal  was  the  assimilation  of 
two  races,  Korean  and  Japanese,  by  declaring  a  new  Japanism. 

The  paper  stopped  soon  after  the  death  of  Mr.  Min  without 
any  visible  hope  of  being  run  again  under  the  same  management. 
For  the  time  being  the  people  are  content  with  two  papers  out  of 
the  three  that  were  permitted  under  the  new  Governor-General. 

The  second  of  these  three  is  Chosun-Ilbo  or  The  Korea  Daily, 
which  was  under  the  management  of  the  Peers  Club,  although 
the  management  has  now  been  transferred  to  Count  Song  Byung- 
shun,  who  was  a  member  of  the  Cabinet  at  the  time  of  the  an- 
nexation. In  spite  of  its  pro-Japanese  ownership,  the  paper  has 
had  thirty-seven  issues  suppressed,  and  almost  three  months  sus- 
pension since  it  began  publication  eighteen  months  ago.  In  ac- 
tual number  of  suppressions  this  paper  leads,  due  to  its  strong 
utterances  sometimes  in  disregard  of  police  warnings.  Yet  the 
people  look  upon  it  merely  as  the  organ  of  the  peers,  for  whom 
they  have  not  much  respect.  The  paper  claims  to  have  a  cir- 
culation of  ten  thousand  and  the  policy  is  generally  neutral  with 
regard  to  political  affairs. 

Last  but  not  least  is  the  Dong-A  Daily,  which  is  already  known 
internationally  as  the  voice  of  Korea.  It  turns  out  fifty  thousand 
copies  every  day  in  the  year,  when  it  is  not  suspended  by  the 
powers  that  be.  It  is  really  in  a  sense  the  successor  of  the  old 
Hwangsung-Shin-moon  or  the  Capital  News,  the  editor  of  which, 
Ryu  Keun,  was  imprisoned  at  the  time  of  annexation.  Mr.  Ryu 
was  editor  of  this  new  daily  until  he  died  a  few  months  ago. 
The  present  editor,  Chang  Duk-soo,  is  a  young  man  of  twenty- 
seven,  who  was  exiled  to  a  lonely  island  away  from  his  political 
activities  but  was  released  to  accompany  Mr.  Lyu  from  Shanghai 
to  Tokyo,  upon  the  invitation  of  the  Japanese  Government  after 
the  Independence  agitation.  On  account  of  the  personnel  of  the 
editorial  stafif,  one  Japanese  contemporary  called  it  "a  den  of 
anti- Japanese,"  which  was  an  unjust  comment  for  a  paper  which 
advocates  the  rights  of  the  people,  whether  they  are  Japanese,  or 
Koreans.    It  claims  that  it  is  not  anti-Japanese  but  anti-militarist. 

The  stock  of  the  Dong-A  Daily  Company  was  subscribed  by 
the  people  all  over  the  country.    Its  aims  are  ( 1 )  to  be  the  organ 


524       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

of  the  people,  (2)  to  stand  for  democracy,  and  (3)  to  foster  the 
enHghtenment  of  the  nation.  It  began  its  pubHcation  April  1, 
1920,  and  suffered  sixteen  suppressions  during  six  months  up 
to  September  25,  when  it  was  suspended  for  four  months.  Then 
the  paper  reappeared  in  February  this  year,  since  then  it  has 
suffered  seven  suppressions.  Two  of  the  issues  suppressed  dur- 
ing the  month  of  August  simply  contained  items  translated  from 
Japanese  papers.  On  the  sixth  of  August  it  was  suppressed  for 
news  about  the  border  situation  that  appeared  in  a  Japanese  con- 
temporary in  Seoul,  while  on  the  twenty-third  August  it  was  sup- 
pressed for  reporting  the  activities  of  Dr.  Syngman  Rhee,  whom 
the  Koreans  claim  as  their  president.  This  last  item  for  which 
the  paper  suffered  suppression  was  a  translation  of  what  had 
appeared  in  the  Tokyo  Asahi.  Thus  the  paper  stands  in  a 
rather  delicate  position  between  the  authorities  and  the  people, 
and  it  is  a  difficult  task  to  please  everybody  in  spite  of  the  pre- 
cautions of  the  editors.  Suppressions  often  result  from  the  au- 
thorities misinterpreting  or  misunderstanding  the  editor's  aim. 
Sometimes,  when  it  is  suppressed,  the  paper  may  be  printed  as 
an  "extra"  after  eliminating  the  "obnoxious  item."  The  Dong-A 
Daily  has  a  paid  subscription  of  fifty  thousand  which  is  the 
largest  in  Korea. 

The  periodicals  in  Korea  are  quite  numerous,  including  re- 
ligious journals  under  foreign  supervision.  The  actual  number 
of  magazines  published  is  twenty-three;  all  of  them  are  non-poli- 
tical. Among  these  Kai  Byuk,  or  The  Creation,  is  one  of  the  best 
with  the  largest  circulation.  It  is  under  the  management  of 
the  followers  of  the  new  religion,  called  the  Heavenly  Path,  the 
head  of  which,  Song  Byung-hi,  was  also  the  leader  of  the  thirty- 
three  signatories  of  the  Korean  Declaration  of  Independence  on 
March  1,  1919. 


Appendix  525 

THE  PRESS  OF  SWITZERLAND 


By  Edouard  Chapuisat, 
Journal  de  Geneve,  Geneva. 

La  presse  suisse  a  des  etats  de  services  deja  fort  anciens  et 
que  pourraient  lui  envier  de  nombreux  pays  infiniment  plus 
importants  par  leur  etendue. 

C'est  en  I'annee  1610  que  Ton  signale  deja,  pour  la  suisse  de 
langue  allemande,  un  journal  qui  paraissait  a  Bale  chaque  se- 
maine.  A  Ziirich  des  166^  se  publie  aussi  une  gazette  et,  au 
commencement  du  XVIIIeme  siecle,  on  mentionne  plusieurs  jour- 
naux  a  Coire,  a  Beriiea  Schaffhouse  et  a  Lucerne  et  St-Gall. 

La  Suisse  de  langue  f  rangaise  est  venue  plus  tard  que  la  suisse 
de  langue  allemande  au  journalisme.  C'est  en  1634  que  parut  a 
Geneve  pour  la  premiere  fois  une  publication  periodique  in- 
titulee  Le  Mercure  Suisse.  Des  la  fin  du  XVIIeme  siecle  le 
journalisme  litteraire  fait  son  apparition,  ce  qui  n'est  pas  sur- 
prenant  dans  une  ville  qui  s'honorait  d'etre  pour  des  causes  di- 
verses,  et  en  particulier  a  la  suite  de  persecutions  contre  les  pro- 
testants,  un  refuge  de  savants  et  d'erudits. 

La  Suisse  de  langue  italienne  pent,  des  I'annee  1746,  revendi- 
quer  aussi  rhonneur  d'avoir  eu  des  publications  periodiques. 
Jusqu'a  cette  epoque  elle  parait  avoir  beneficie  presque  exclusive- 
ment  des  journaux  de  I'ltalie,  si  proche  du  Tessin. 

Le  fait  meme  que  nous  mentionnons  sous  trois  rubriques 
sjDeciales  les  dates  des  premieres  publications  de  journaux,  marque 
la  difficulte  de  la  tache  de  la  presse  suisse,  mais  aussi  le  role 
considerable  qu'elle  est  appelee  a  jouer  dans  ce  pays. 

Composee  de  22  cantons  distincts — etats  souverains — qui  ne 
beneficient  pas  d'un  meme  langage  dont  les  populations  sont  is- 
sues de  races  tres  dififerentes  et  dont  les  moeurs  sont  parfois  dis- 
semblables,  la  suisse  presente  sur  la  surface  du  globe  un  exemple 
caracteristique.  II  a  ete  trop  souvent  mis  en  evidence  pour  que 
nous  y  revenions  ici,  mais  on  congoit  que  la  presse  soit  un  agent 
de  liaison  non  seulement  utile,  mais  absolument  necessaire  pour 
que  tons  ces  petits  peuples,  qui  ont  decide  de  vivre  ensemble,  ne 
vivent  pas  seulement  du  point  de  vue  d'un  interet  materiel  com- 


526       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

mun,  mais  aussi  d'une  meme  conception  en  ce  qui  concerne  les 
idees  generales  a  la  base  du  pays. 

La  Suisse  n'ayant  jamais  connu  d'autre  regime  que  la  demo- 
cratie — a  part  quelques  petits  etats  qui  eurent  des  organisations 
aristocratiques  tres  vite  dissipees — doit  s'employer  a  maintenir 
cet  esprit  democratique.  Toute  sa  presse  s'y  consacre  et  Ton  peut 
afifirmer  que  si,  malgre  des  divergences  d'opinions  parfois  impor- 
tantes,  aucune  scission  n'est  possible  en  Suisse,  c'est  parce  que  la 
democratic,  pivot  central  de  sa  politique,  n'a  jamais  ete  contestee. 

Mais  si  la  presse  Suisse  a  une  experience  tres  grande  de  la 
democratic,  elle  varie  aussi  dans  ses  idees  sur  Tapplication  du 
principe  et  c'est  la  qu'apparait  son  role  qui,  tout  en  discutant  les 
theories,  la  ramene  constamment  au  principe  essentiel  et  commun. 

Les  suisses  se  preoccupent  beaucoup  de  politique  et  I'instruc- 
tion  tres  generalment  repandue  leur  permet  d'y  vouer  une  atten- 
tion speciale.  II  n'est  pas  sans  interet  de  constater  que  pour  une 
population  de  4  millions  d'habitants  environ,  la  suisse  compte 
1500  journaux  ce  qui  fait  un  journal  pour  un  peu  plus  de  2000 
habitants.  C'est,  si  nous  ne  nous  trompons,  la  plus  forte  propor- 
tion connue  et  cela  encore  donne  a  la  presse  suisse  une  impor- 
tance particuliere.  On  peut  s'en  rendre  compte  d'une  faqon  spe- 
ciale lorsqu'il  s'agit  de  questions  soumises  au  referendum  ou  qui 
necessitent  I'intervention  directe  du  peuple  par  voie  de  plebiscite. 
Un  exemple  frappant  est  celui  du  vote  du  peuple  suisse  relatif  a  la 
Societe  des  Nations.  Alors  meme  que  le  cas  fut  tout  a  fait  par- 
ticulier,  le  peuple  suisse  a  estime  que  c'etait  lui  et  non  pas  ses 
magistrats  qui  devait  decider  de  son  entree  ou  non  dans  la  So- 
ciete des  Nations  et  Ton  se  souvient  que  le  peuple  a  adhere  a  une 
enorme  majorite  au  nouveau  principe  humanitaire  inaugure  par 
la  Societe. 

Sur  le  nombre  de  journaux  que  nous  venons  de  signaler,  il 
est  evident  que  tous  ne  sont  pas  quotidiens.  Leur  tirage,  il  va 
de  soi,  n'equivaut  pas  non  plus  au  grand  tirage  de  vastes  pays. 
Pourtant  tous  subsistent  et  vivent  malgre  les  difficultes  resultant, 
dans  la  periode  actuelle.  du  cout  du  papier,  deia  sensiblement 
ameliore,  et  des  augmentations  importantes  consenties  aux  typo- 
graphes. 

Si  la  plupart  des  journaux  traitcnt  principalement  des  ques- 


Appendix  527 

tions  de  politique  interieure,  tous  renseignent  aussi  sur  la  po- 
litique exterieure.  Beaucoup  meme  y  vouent  un  interet  special 
comme,  par  exemple,  le  Journal  de  Geneve,  la  Nouvelle  Gazette 
de  Zurich,  la  Gazette  de  Lausanne. 

L'etranger  veut  bien  faire  I'honneur  a  la  presse  suisse  d'at- 
tacher  une  importance  particuliere  a  ses  avis  car  elle  a  une  re- 
putation d'honnetete  qui  est  le  plus  precieux  de  ses  tresors.  D'au- 
tre  part  la  neutralite  du  pays  permet  de  supposer  que  sa  presse 
n'est  pas  infeodee  a  tel  ou  tel  etat  et  que  par  consequent  les 
jugements  qu'elle  porte  lui  sont  toujours  dictes  par  un  sentiment 
de  justice  et  de  droiture. 

L'un  des  caracteres  principaux  de  la  presse  suisse,  est  son  in- 
dependance.  Independance  vis-a-vis  de  l'etranger,  independance 
aussi  a  I'interieur.  Aucune  loi  sur  la  presse  ne  bride  ses  elans. 
Elle  reste  done  d'une  fagon  absolue  seule  juge  des  circonstances 
politiques  qui  se  deroulent  autour  d'elle.  II  n'y  a  pas  d'organe 
officiel  ni  officieux  du  Gouvernement  suisse,  sans  doute  tel  ou  tel 
magistrat  peut  avoir  des  relations  plus  particulieres  avec  tel  ou 
tel  journal  et  le  prendre  plus  volontiers  pour  confident.  Mais 
ce  sont  la  des  faits  tout  a  fait  personnels  et  meme  isoles.  On  ne 
saurait  dire  que  tel  journal  represente  la  pensee  du  Gouverne- 
ment pris  dans  son  integralite.  Nous  y  voyons  une  force  pour 
avancement  des  idees  a  I'interieur  du  pays.  Le  jeu  de  la  libre 
critique  est  essentiel  dans  une  democratic. 

D'apres  ce  que  nous  venons  de  dire,  on  voit  que  la  presse  suisse 
est  plus  particulierement  portee  a  etudier  les  questions  politiques. 
C'est  peut-etre  pour  cette  raison  que  les  directeurs  (editeurs)  des 
grands  journaux  ont  le  plus  souvent  commence  leur  carriere  dans  le 
droit  avant  de  s'adonner  d'une  maniere  complete  au  journalisme, 

II  ne  faudrait  cependant  pas  croire  que  les  interets  scienti- 
fiques,  agraires,  litteraires  et  artistiques  sont  negliges.  De  nom- 
breuses  publications  speciales  traitent  des  divers  sujects  auxquels 
nous  faisons  allusion  et  la  plupart  des  journaux  quotidiens  aussi — 
en  tous  cas  les  plus  grands — ont  des  rubriques  ou  ces  questions 
sont  traitees  par  des  specialistes.  II  est  bon  de  signaler  ce  fait 
dans  ce  pays  ou  trois  cultures  sont  juxtaposees,  car  cela  permet 
de  marquer  I'interpenetration  de   ces  cultures   sur  un   espace  a 


528       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

vrai  dire  restreint  mais  ou  un  public  instruit  est  capable  d'en 
profiter.  Les  traductions  en  frangais,  en  allemand,  en  italien,  ou 
vice  versa,  sont  frequentes  dans  les  journax  des  trois  langues  et 
assurent  une  collaboration  qui  permet  en  fin  de  former  une 
pyramide  particulierement  interessante  pour  tous  ceux  qui  croient 
que  I'esprit  des  hommes  doit  un  jour  se  rencontrer  sur  les  som- 
mets. 

*  *     * 

Les  journalistes  suisses  ont  plusieurs  associations.  La  plus 
importante  au  point  de  vue  professionnel  est  I'Association  de  la 
Presse  suisse  fondee  le  16  juin  1884  a  Lucerne  et  qui  groupe  700 
membres. 

Dans  plusieurs  des  cantons  (etats)  existent  des  associations 
de  presse  cantonales  (Association  de  la  Presse  genevoise,  Asso- 
ciation de  la  Presse  vaudoise,  etc.  etc.)  Les  associations  can- 
tonales ont  un  but  surtout  amical  tandis  que  I'Association  de  la 
Presse  suisse,  qui  permet  aux  journalistes  des  diverses  langues  de 
se  recontrer  et  d'echanger  des  idees,  a  plutot  une  tendance  a  sau- 
vegarder  les  interets  professionnels.  C'est  le  cas  aussi  du  Syndi- 
cat  de  la  Presse  romande  dont  le  siege  est  a  Lausanne. 

A  cote  des  ces  organisations  il  s'est  constitue  a  Geneve,  des 
Tan  dernier,  un  Cercle  de  la  Presse,  (siege,  1  Place  du  Lac,)  qui 
prit  tout  de  suite  une  certaine  envergure  etant  donne  le  nombre 
important  de  journalistes  etrangers  qui  sont  venus  se  fixer  a 
Geneve,  siege  de  la  Societe  des  Nations  et  de  plusieurs  institutions 
internationales,  afin  de  suivre  le  developpement  de  ces  entre- 
prises.  Le  Cercle  de  la  Presse,  en  effet,  accepte  dans  son  sein  les 
journalistes  de  tous  les  pays  et  nous  croyons  bien  qu'actuellement 
il  en  est  peu  qui  ne  comptent  pas  des  representants  au  sein  du 
Cercle  qui  a  ete  fonde  principalement  pour  creer  un  centre  jour- 
nalistique  facilitant  la  tache  des  professionnels  et  les  mettant  en 
rapport  quelle  que  soit  leur  nationalite. 

*  *     * 

A  cote  de  ces  organisations  qui  concernent  plus  particuliere- 
ment les  journalistes,  nous  devons  mentionner  une  autre  associa- 
tion, la  Societe  des  Editeurs  de  journaux,  d'ordre  professionnel, 
mais  qui  permet  aussi  aux  directeurs  (editeurs)  des  periodiques 
suisses  de  se  rencontrer  sans  tenir  compte  de  leurs  langues  di- 
verses. 


Appendix  529 

La  presse  Suisse  est  desservie,  comme  partout  ailleurs,  par 
des  agences. 

L'Agence  telegraphique  suisse  est  rorganisation  la  plus  im- 
portante  de  ce  genre.  Elle  a  son  siege  a  Berne,  capitale  de  la 
Suisse,  mais  a  des  succursales  dans  les  villes  principales. 

Une  societe  de  telegraphic  sans  fil  vient  aussi  de  se  constituer, 
dans  I'idee  surtout  de  servir  la  presse,  qui  compte  deux  represen- 
tants  dans  son  Conseil  d'administration,  M.  Usteri  (de  Ziirich) 
president  du  Conseil  d'Adminstration  de  la  Nouvelle  Gazette  de 
Zurich  et  M.  Chapuisat  (de  Geneve)  directeur  (editor)  du  Jour- 
nal de  Geneve. 

Comme  adjuvant  de  la  presse  nous  pensons  qu'il  convient 
aussi  de  signaler  I'existence  d'un  Argus  suisse  de  la  Presse, 
(siege  a  Geneve)  qui  donne  les  coupures  de  tons  les  journaux 
du  monde. 

C'est  en  Suisse  que  le  Bureau  de  Propriete  intellectuelle  a  son 
siege.  II  est  situe  a  Berne  et,  sans  etre  specialement  affec- 
te  a  la  defense  des  droits  du  journalisme,  il  est,  comme  on  s'en 
doute,  bien  loin  d'etre  etranger  a  ses  efforts. 

C'est  a  Berne  aussi  que  fut  constitue  le  Musee  Gutenberg 
Suisse  au  sujet  duquel  nous  joignons  a  ce  rapport  une  notice 
explicative.  Le  Musee  Gutenberg,  fonde  en  1894,  recueille  tout 
ce  qui  concerne  la  Presse. 

Y  a-t-il  des  principes  communs  a  la  presse  suisse?  Certaine- 
ment,  et  ils  sont  fixes  par  le  reglement  de  I'Association  de  la 
presse  suisse.  Sans  vouloir  entrer  ici  dans  trop  de  details,  on 
pent  affirmer  que  la  base  essentielle  est  I'honnetete.  Un  exemple : 
la  Presse  suisse  n'accepte  pas  de  reclame  payante  dans  le  texte 
du  journal  de  faqon  que  Ton  ne  puisse  pas  dire  que  tel  ou  tel 
article  a  ete  insere  centre  remuneration. 

Nous  ne  pouvons  songer  a  entrer  ici  dans  tous  les  details 
relatifs  au  journalisme  helvetique. 

Nous  pensons  en  avoir  assez  dit  pour  montrer  son  importance. 
Nous  n'  oublions  pas  d'ailleurs  qu'en  1902  il  se  tint  en  Suisse 
un  Congres  international  de  la  Presse  et  nous  serious  particu- 
lierement  heureux  de  penser  qu'im  jour  ou  I'autre  il  pourrait  de 
nouveau  se  tenir  dans  ce  pays. 

34 


530       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

En  terminant,  qu'il  soit  permis  au  rapporteur  d'exprimer 
les  sentiments  de  sympathie  les  plus  sinceres  de  ses  confreres 
suisses  pour  leurs  confreres  etrangers.  Les  journalistes  suisses 
savent  que,  places  au  centre  de  races  diverses,  ils  ont  une  veri- 
table mission  a  remplir,  mission  d'uinion  et  d'entente.  S'ils 
savent  aussi  que,  suivant  le  vieux  dicton  latin  "rien  de  ce  qui 
est  humain  ne  doit  leur  etre  etranger,"  ils  savent  encore  que  dans 
la  carriere  souvent  difficile,  remplie  d'ecueils,  qu'ils  ont  embrassee, 
il  y  a  une  jouissance  supreme  a  pouvoir  faire  preuve  de  solidar- 
ite  humaine  et  confraternelle. 


THE  PRESS  IN  INDIA 


By  RusTOM  N.  Vatchaghandy, 

Proprietor  and  Editor,  Sanj  Vartaman  {Bvening  Nezvs)  of  Bom- 
hay,  India. 

The  history  of  the  Press  legislation  in  India  extends  over  a 
period  of  a  hundred  years.  That  legislation  was  at  first  directed 
against  the  Anglo-Indian  press.  During  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  the  Indian  press  was  practically  non-existent. 
The  few  papers  that  were  published  had  a  very  small  circulation 
not  exceeding  three  hundred  copies  and  exercised  very  little  in- 
fluence over  the  public  and  the  Government.  The  press  that 
really  counted  was  the  Anglo-Indian  press.  Of  course  it  did  not 
represent  the  interests  of  the  Indian  people  but  of  the  small  non- 
official  Anglo-Indian  community.  As  John  Stuart  Mill  said: 
"English  newspaper  press  in  India  is  the  organ  only  of  the  En- 
glish society  and  chiefly  that  part  of  it  unconnected  with  the 
Government.  It  has  little  to  do  with  natives  and  with  the  great 
interests  of  India."  It  was  in  a  state  of  constant  antagonism  to 
the  Government  and  severely  criticised  its  policy  and  measures. 
The  early  policy  of  the  Government  of  India  towards  the  press 
was  characterised  by  extreme  severity.  In  1799  Lord  Wellesley 
passed  some  regulations  for  the  better  control  of  the  press.  Every 
paper  was  to  be  inspected  by  a  censor  before  publication  and  im- 
mediate deportation  for  Europeans  was  the  penalty  for  offend- 


Appendix  531 

ing  against  the  regulations.  Marquis  of  Hastings  softened  these 
regulations  but  the  general  policy  towards  the  press  remained 
unchanged.  The  press  was  still  prohibited  from  publishing  "ani- 
madversions" on  public  measures  and  discussions  tending  to  alarm 
the  Indian  people.  Many  Anglo-Indians  defied  these  regulations 
and  suffered  punishment  for  their  opinions.  It  was  in  1822  that 
the  question  of  the  freedom  of  the  press  in  India  came  to  the 
front.  In  that  year  Sir  Thomas  Munro  then  Governor  of  Ma- 
dras wrote  in  his  minute  on  the  subject  under  the  heading  "Dan- 
ger of  a  Free  Press  in  India."  This  minute  was  all  the  more 
surprising  as  Sir  Thomas  Munro  was  one  of  the  most  liberal- 
minded  men  of  his  time.  His  standpoint,  however,  was  that  if 
the  liberty  of  the  press  was  allowed  in  India  the  British  Govern- 
ment would  not  be  able  to  keep  its  control  and  domination  over 
the  Indian  people.  These  views  commended  themselves  to  the 
Court  of  Directors  in  L/ondon.  In  spite  of  the  protests  of  Raja 
Ram  Mohan  Roy,  the  leading  Indian  of  his  time,  these  views  pre- 
vailed and  on  the  fifth  of  April  1823  a  regulation  was  passed 
called  "A  Regulation  for  preventing  the  establishment  of  print- 
ing presses  without  license  and  for  restraining  under  certain  cir- 
cumstances the  circulation  of  printed  books  and  papers."  This 
regulation  applied  to  Bengal  only  and  therefore  in  January  1827, 
a  similar  regulation  was  passed  by  the  Bombay  Government.  The 
principal  provisions  of  these  regulations  were: —  (1)  No  print- 
ing press  was  to  be  established  and  no  book  or  paper  was  to  be 
printed  without  a  license  from  Government;  (2)  All  books  and 
papers  printed  under  license  were  to  be  submitted  to  the  Govern- 
ment for  inspection;  (3)  The  circulation  of  any  newspaper  or 
book  might  be  prohibited  by  notice  in  the  Government  Gazette. 
Raja  Ram  Mohan  Roy  and  his  co-adjutors  appealed  to  His 
Majesty  the  King  against  such  a  regulation  and  the  way  in  which 
it  was  being  worked.  The  memorial,  however,  proved  unavail- 
ing and  the  Privy  Council  declined  to  comply  with  the  petition, 
which  was  addressed  to  it.  It  will  be  seen  from  the  above  that 
these  regulations  introduced  licensing  as  well  as  censorship  of 
the  press  which  are  incompatible  with  a  free  press.  These  re- 
strictions on  the  press  continued  in  force  till  the  fifteenth  of 
September    1835.      In   that   year,   they    were    repealed   and    re- 


532       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

placed  by  a  new  act,  viz.,  Act  XI  of  1835.  Lord  William  Beii- 
tinck  made  no  change  in  the  law  but  gradually  he  allowed  great 
freedom.  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe  removed  all  restrictions  (1835) 
by  the  new  act.  This  new  act  which  was  substituted  for  the  old 
regulation  was  quite  an  innocent  measure,  its  object  being  simply 
to  make  printers  and  publishers  "accessible  to  th.e  laws  of  the 
land."  It  was  drafted  by  Macaulay  on  the  lines  of  the  corre- 
sponding English  statute  and  was  the  first  Press  Act  enacted  for 
the  whole  of  India.  It  abolished  censorship  and  the  system  of 
licenses,  and  introduced  in  their  place  a  system  of  registration. 
Every  owner  of  a  press  and  every  printer  and  publisher  of  any 
book  or  periodical  work  was  obliged,  under  penalty,  to  sign  and 
file  before  a  magistrate  a  declaration  setting  forth  a  true  and 
precise  account  of  the  premises  wherein  his  printing  or  publish- 
ing was  carried  on.  Sir  Charles  Metcalfe's  press  policy  was  not, 
approved  of  by  the  Court  of  Directors.  No  change,  however, 
was  made  in  the  policy  and  the  charter  of  freedom  thus  granted  to 
the  Indian  Press  remained  in  existence  for  about  twenty- two 
years.  After  the  mutiny  of  1857,  however,  a  bill  was  introduced 
for  the  better  control  of  the  press  and  passed  on  the  same  day, 
being  known  as  Act  XV  of  1857.  This  Act  applied  to  the  whole 
of  British  India  and  re-enacted  some  of  the  provisions  of  the 
regulations  of  1823.  At  the  same  time,  the  provisions  of  Act  XI 
of  1835  were  expressly  maintained.  It  thus  restored  the  old 
system  of  licenses  without  at  the  same  time  disturbing  the  system 
of  registration  then  in  vogue.  In  one  respect,  the  new  act  was 
more  liberal  than  the  old  regulation.  There  was  to  be  no  cen- 
sorship of  the  press. 

One  of  the  most  important  provisions  of  the  act  was  that  it 
was  to  have  efifect  only  for  one  year ;  and  it  deserves  to  be  noted 
that  though  the  public  excitement  caused  by  the  mutiny  had  not 
quite  subsided,  it  was  not  renewed  at  the  end  of  the  period. 

The  next  step  in  press  legislation  was  Act  XXV  of  1867.  It 
is  still  in  force  as  amended  by  Act  XX  of  1890.  It  repealed  and 
re-enacted  with  slight  changes,  the  provisions  of  the  Act  XI  of 
1835.  It  had  been  originally  intended  to  provide  rules  for  the 
preservation  and  registration  of  books  only,  for  which  no  pro- 
vision had  hitherto  existed,  but  at  a  later  stage,  the  bill  was  amend- 
ed so  as  to  include  the  provision  of  Act  XI  of  1835. 


Appendix  533 

We  now  come  to  the  year  1870.  In  that  year,  the  famous 
section  124-A,  deahng  with  the  offense  of  sedition,  as  it  stood  be- 
fore its  amendment  in  1898,  was  embodied  in  the  Penal  Code. 
The  draft  Penal  Code  was  framed  by  Macaulay  in  1837,  but 
the  Code  itself  was  not  enacted  till  1860.  The  section  dealing 
with  sedition  originally  stood  as  Section  113  of  the  draft  Code, 
but  it  came  somehow  to  be  omitted  when  the  Code  was  passed. 
This  omission  has  not  been  satisfactorily  explained. 

Neither  the  Act  XXV  of  1867  nor  the  inclusion  of  the  sedi- 
tion section  in  the  ordinary  law  of  the  land  interfered  with  ths 
legitimate  freedom  of  the  press.  The  sedition  section  was  drafted 
on  the  lines  of  its  English  prototype  and,  though  in  later  days, 
particularly  in  the  memorable  Tilak  trial  of  1897,  it  received  a 
very  strict  interpretation  from  the  Bombay  High  Court,  the  sec- 
tion itself  evoked  no  opposition  when  it  was  embodied  in  the 
Penal  Code.  So,  with  the  exception  of  one  single  year,  viz.,  that 
of  the  mutiny,  the  freedom  conferred  upon  the  Indian  press  by 
Sir  Charles  Metcalfe,  continued  to  be  enjoyed  by  it  till  1878, 
when  it  was  again  partially  suspended  by  the  Vernacular  Press 
Act.  This  act,  as  its  name  indicates,  applied  only  to  the  vernacu- 
lar press.  It  was  passed  in  hot  haste  in  one  sitting  without  a 
single  dissentient  vote  in  the  Imperial  Council,  where  there  were 
no  elected  members  and  where  at  the  time  only  one  Indian  mem- 
ber was  present.  The  object  of  the  bill  was  to  repress  seditious 
writings  in  the  vernacular  newspapers  and  to  check  the  system 
of  extortion  to  which,  it  was  alleged,  native  feudatories  and 
native  employees  were  at  the  time  subjected  by  unscrupulous  na- 
tive editors.  This  act  was  strongly  opposed  not  only  in  India  but 
in  England  and  was  condemned  in  Parliament  by  a  large  ma- 
jority amounting  to  over  one  hundred  and  fifty  members.  The 
late  Mr.  Gladstone  who  was  then  leader  of  the  opposition,  made 
a  very  strong  speech  opposing  it.    He  said ; 

"They  (the  people  of  India)  have  or  think  they  have  plenty 
of  causes  of  complaint.  I  am  sorry  to  say,  I  regard  this  Press 
Act  as  one  of  the  most  salient  among  them ;  but  as  I  observe 
most  of  all  from  reading  extracts  sent  home  in  order  to  make  a 
case  for  the  act,  all  these  complaints  in  India  appear  to  me  to  be 
particular  complaints.  They  complain  of  the  errors  of  Govern- 
ment just  as  we  complain  of  them  in  this  country."    This  act  was 


534       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

in  operation  for  a  little  over  three  years,  and  was  practically  kept 
on  the  statute-book  without  being  enforced.  For  about  fifteen 
years  after  the  repeal  of  the  Vernacular  Press  Act  there  was  no 
change  made  in  the  legislation  affecting  the  Indian  Press.  But 
again  there  was  a  wave  of  reaction,  and  in  1898  material  amend- 
ments were  introduced  in  the  law  concerning  sedition.  None  of  the 
changes  was  approved  of  by  the  educated  public  but  in  spite  of 
the  opposition  the  amendment  of  section  124-A  of  the  Penal 
Code  and  the  enactment  of  the  new  section,  viz.,  108  of  the  Crim- 
inal Procedure  Code  was  passed.  For  about  ten  years  after  these 
changes  there  was  no  fresh  legislation  for  the  press  but  on  the 
eighth  of  June  1908  an  Act  was  passed  called  "The  Newspapers 
(Incitement  to  offenses)  Act"  which  was  followed  within  two 
years  by  the  full-fledged  Press  Act  of  1910.  The  Newspapers 
Act  was  a  small  act  of  only  ten  sections  and  designed  for  the  pre- 
vention of  incitements  to  murder  and  other  offenses  in  news- 
papers. It  has  been  truly  said  that  neither  the  conduct  of  the 
newspapers  nor  the  publication  of  books  in  India  during  all  the 
period  subsequent  to  the  mutiny  had  been  of  such  a  character 
as  to  induce  the  British  Government  in  India  to  reverse  the 
entire  policy  followed  in  the  past  and  go  back  upon  the  tradi- 
tions of  the  British  Jurisprudence  so  thoroughly  as  to  enact  a  law 
licensing  censorship  of  the  Press.  When  the  Indian  Press  Act 
of  1910  was  therefore  enacted,  preceded  as  it  was  by  a  number 
of  other  repressive  laws  connected  with  the  unrest  of  1905-08, 
the  first  effort  apparently  made  was  to  introduce  the  system  of 
licensing  and  preventive  control  of  the  press  by  the  executive. 
This  act  does  not  ostensibly  purport  to  establish  a  system  of 
licensing  or  censorship  of  the  Indian  press.  It  purports  only  to 
modify  the  law  of  press  registration  as  defined  in  the  Act  of  1867 
by  starting  with  a  demand  for  securities  in  all  cases  when  a-  new 
registration  and  declaration  of  printing  press  or  a  newspaper  has 
to  be  effected  under  the  act.  No  security,  however,  it  was  de- 
clared in  the  statement  of  objects  and  reasons,  "is  to  be  given 
by  existing  presses  until  they  offended  the  Government."  The 
security  as  deposited  becomes  liable  to  forfeiture  as  also  the 
press  and  newspaper  concerned  as  well  as  further  security  taken 
under  the  act  whenever  the  local  Government  finds  any  publica- 


Appendix  535 

tion  made  by  the  papers  or  presses  to  be  seditious  or  otherwise 
objectionable  as  defined  in  the  act.  Upon  such  orders  for  for- 
feiture, the  act  purports  to  provide  what  Lord  Morley  described 
as :  "Appeal  to  a  Court  of  Law  in  due  form."  All  such  safe- 
guards and  assurances  which  secured  the  consent  of  elected  repre- 
sentatives of  the  people  by  the  late  Mr.  Gokhale  and  also  the 
then  Liberal  Secretary  of  State,  Lord  Morley,  proved  a  mere 
hallucination  when  the  act  came  to  be  practically  worked  by  the 
bureaucracy.  The  tendency  to  treat  the  act  as  one  investing  the 
executive  with  the  powers  of  control  over  the  printing  presses 
and  newspapers  soon  expanded  and  developed  in  a  manner  which 
became  a  serious  menace  to  the  very  existence  of  the  Indian  press . 
in  the  country.  The  existing  presses  and  papers  were  in  fact 
always  liable  to  a  demand  for  security  whenever  they  had  to  go 
to  make  a  fresh  declaration  even  on  account  of  technical  grounds 
like  a  change  in  the  residence,  etc.  Since  1910  there  has  been  a 
consistent  opposition  from  the  whole  of  the  Indian  people  to 
this  legislation  and  the  arbitrary  manner  in  which  it  was  worked 
to  put  down  the  freedom  and  liberty  of  the  Indian  press.  For 
one  whole  decade,  however,  the  Government  of  India  remained 
obtuse  to  all  such  appeals  and  representations  showing  how  very 
little  popular  voice  counts  in  the  administration  of  this  country. 
It  was  only  in  the  last  March  that  a  sub-committee  of  the  Im- 
perial Council  was  appointed  to  consider  the  Press  Act  and 
other  legislative  enactments  and  this  committee  has  only  recently 
reported  that  the  Press  Act  must  be  repealed.  It  may  be  hoped 
that  this  report  of  the  committee  will  be  adopted  by  the  Govern- 
ment and  this  repressive  legislation  removed  from  the  statute- 
book  altogether. 

This  short  survey  of  the  history  of  the  press  legislation  in 
India  will  not  perhaps  be  deemed  complete  unless  I  give  a  history 
of  the  press  from  the  starting  of  the  first  newspaper  in  1780  in 
Calcutta.  This  short  history  is  given  in  Indian  Year-book  pub- 
lished by  the  Times  of  India  and  gives  a  pithy  summary  of  the 
evolution  of  the  Indian  newspapers. 

The  newspaper  press  in  India  is  an  essentially  English  in- 
stitution and  was  introduced  soon  after  the  task  of  organizing 
the  administration  was  seriously  taken  in  hand  by  the  English 


536       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

in  Bengal.  In  1773  was  passed  the  Regulating  Act  creating  the 
Governor-Generalship  and  the  Supreme  Court  in  Bengal  and 
within  seven  years  at  the  end  of  the  same  decade,  the  first 
newspaper  was  started  in  Calcutta  by  an  Englishman  in  Jan- 
uary 1780.  Exactly  a  century  and  a  third  has  elapsed  since,  not 
a  very  long  period  certainly,  a  period  almost  measured  by  the 
life  of  a  single  newspaper.  The  Times,  which  came  into  existence 
only  five  years  later  in  1785 ;  but  then  the  period  of  British  su- 
premacy is  not  much  longer,  having  commenced  at  Plassey,  only 
twenty-three  years  earlier.  Bombay  followed  Calcutta  closely, 
and  Madras  did  not  lag  much  behind.  In  1789  the  first  Bombay 
newspaper  appeared.  The  Bombay  Herald,  followed  next  year  by 
The  Bombay  Courier,  a  paper  now  represented  by  the  Times  of 
India  with  which  it  was  amalgamated  in  1861.  In  Bombay  the 
advent  of  the  Press  may  be  said  to  have  followed  the  British 
occupation  of  the  Island  much  later  than  was  the  case  in  Cal- 
cutta. In  Calcutta  the  English  were  on  sufferance  before  Plassey, 
but  in  Bombay  they  were  absolute  masters  after  1665,  and  it  is 
somewhat  strange  that  no  Englishman  should  have  thought  of 
starting  a  newspaper  during  all  those  hundred  and  twenty-five 
years  before  the  actual  advent  of  The  Herald. 

The  first  newspaper  was  called  The  Bengal  Gazette  which  is 
better  known  from  the  name  of  its  founder  as  Hicky's  Gazette  or 
Journal.  Hicky  like  most  pioneers  had  to  suffer  for  his  enter- 
prising spirit,  though  the  fault  was  entirely  his  own,  as  he  made 
his  paper  a  medium  of  publishing  gross  scandal,  and  he  and  his 
journal  disappeared  from  public  view  in  1782.  Several  journals 
rapidly  followed  Hicky's  though  they  did  not  fortunately  copy 
its  bad  example.  The  Indian  Gazette  had  a  career  of  over  half 
a  century,  when  in  1833  it  was  merged  into  Bengal  Harkaru, 
which  came  into  existence  only  a  little  later,  and  both  are  now 
represented  by  The  Indian  Daily  News  with  which  they  were 
amalgamated  in  1866.  No  fewer  than  five  papers  followed  in 
as  many  years,  the  Bengal  Gazette  of  1780,  and  one  of  these.  The 
Calcutta  Gazette,  started  in  February  1784,  under  the  avowed 
patronage  of  Government,  flourishes  still  as  the  official  gazette  of 
the  Bengal  Government. 

From  its  commencement  the  press  was  jealously  watched  by 


Appendix  537 

the  authorities,  who  put  serious  restraints  upon  its  independence 
and  pursued  a  poHcy  of  discouragement  and  rigorous  control. 
Government  objected  to  news  of  apparently  the  most  trivial 
character  affecting  its  servants.  From  1791  ih  1799  several  edi- 
tors were  deported  to  Europe  without  trial  and  on  short  notice, 
whilst  several  more  were  censured  and  had  to  apologize.  At  the 
commencement  of  the  rule  of  Wellesley,  Government  promulgated 
stringent  rules  for  the  public  press  and  instituted  an  official  censor 
to  whom  everything  was  to  be  submitted  before  publication,  the 
penalty  for  offending  against  these  rules  to  be  immediate  de- 
portation. These  regulations  continued  in  force  till  the  time  of 
the  Marquis  of  Hastings  who  in  1818  abolished  the  censorship 
and  substituted  milder  rules. 

This  change  proved  beneficial  to  the  status  of  the  press,  for 
henceforward  self-respecting  and  able  men  began  slowly  but 
steadily  to  join  the  ranks  of  journalism  which  had  till  then  been 
considered  a  low  profession.  Silk  Buckingham,  one  of  the 
ablest  and  best  known  of  Anglo-Indian  journalists  of  those  days, 
availed  himself  of  this  comparative  freedom  to  criticise  the  au- 
thorities, and  under  the  short  administration  of  Adam,  a  civilian 
who  temporarily  occupied  Hastings'  place,  he  was  deported  under 
rules  specially  passed.  But  Lord  Amherst  and  still  more  Lord 
William  Bentinck  were  persons  of  broad  and  liberal  views,  and 
under  them  the  press  was  left  practically  free,  though  there 
existed  certain  regulations  which  were  not  enforced,  though  Lord 
Clare,  who  was  Governor  of  Bombay  from  1821  to  1835,  once 
strongly  but  in  vain  urged  the  latter  to  enforce  them.  Metcalfe, 
who  succeeded  for  a  brief  period  Bentinck,  removed  even  these 
regulations,  and  brought  about  what  is  called  the  emancipation 
of  the  press  in  India  in  1835,  which  was  the  beginning  of  a  new 
era  in  the  history  of  the  Indian  press.  Among  papers  that  came 
into  being,  was  the  Bombay  Times  which  was  started  towards 
the  close  of  1838  by  the  leading  merchants  of  Bombay,  and 
which  in  1861  changed  its  name  to  the  Times  of  India.  The  Bom- 
bay Gazette,  founded  in  1791,  ceased  publication  in  1914. 

The  liberal  spirit  in  which  Lord  Hastings  had  begun  to  deal 
with  the  Press  led  not  only  to  the  improvement  in  the  tone  and 
status  of  the  Anglo-Indian  Press,  but  also  to  the  rise  of  the  Native 


538       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

or  Indian  press.  The  first  newspaper  in  any  Indian  language 
was  the  Samachar  Durpan  started  by  the  famous  Serampore 
missionaries  Ward,  Carey  and  Marshman  in  1818  in  Bengali,  and 
it  received  encouragement  from  Hastings  who  allowed  it  to  cir- 
culate through  the  post  office  at  one-fourth  the  usual  rates.  This 
was  followed  in  1822  by  a  purely  native  paper  in  Bombay  called 
the  Bombay  Samachar  which  still  exists,  and  thus  was  laid  the 
foundation  of  the  Native  Indian  Press  which  at  the  present  day 
is  by  far  the  largest  part  of  the  press  in  India,  numbering  over 
six  hundred  and  fifty  papers. 

From  1835  to  the  mutiny  the  press  spread  to  other  cities  like 
Delhi,  Agra,  Gwalior,  and  even  Lahore,  whereas  formerly  it  was 
chiefly  confined  to  the  Presidency  towns.  During  the  mutiny  its 
freedom  had  to  be  temporarily  controlled  by  the  Gagging  Act 
which  Canning  passed  in  June  1857  on  account  of  the  license 
of  a  very  few  papers,  and  owing  still  more  to  the  fears  of  its 
circulating  intelligence  which  might  be  prejudicial  to  public  in- 
terests. The  act  was  passed  only  for  a  year  at  the  end  of  which 
the  press  was  once  more  free. 

On  India  passing  to  the  crown  in  1858,  an  era  of  prosperity 
and  progress  opened  for  the  whole  country  in  which  the  press  par- 
ticipated. There  were  nineteen  Anglo-Indian  papers  at  the  be- 
ginning of  this  period  in  1858  and  twenty-five  native  papers  and 
the  circulation  of  all  was  very  small.  The  number  of  the  former 
did  not  show  a  great  rise  in  the  next  generation,  but  the  rise  in 
influence  and  also  circulation  was  satisfactory.  Famous  jour- 
nalists like  Robert  Knight,  James  Maclean  and  Hurris  Mookerji 
flourished  in  this  generation.  The  Civil  and  Military  Gazette 
was  originally  published  in  Simla  as  a  weekly  paper,  the  first 
issue  being  dated  June  22,  1872.  Prior  to  and  in  the  days  of  the 
mutiny  the  most  famous  paper  in  Northern  India  was  the  Mo- 
fussilite,  originally  published  at  Meerut  but  afterwards  at  Agra 
and  then  at  Ambala.  After  a  lively  existence  for  a  few  years 
in  Simla  the  Civil  and  Military  Gazette  acquired  and  incorporated 
the  Mofussilite,  and  in  1876  the  office  of  the  paper  was  trans- 
ferred from  Simla  to  Lahore,  and  the  Gazette  began  to  be  pub- 
lished daily.  During  Lord  Lytton's  viceroyalty  a  reactionary 
policy  was  pursued  towards  the  vernacular  press  which  was  re- 


Appendix  539 

strained  by  a  special  act  passed  in  1878.  With  the  advent  of 
Lord  Ripon  in  1880  the  Press  Act  of  Lytton  was  repealed  in 
1882.  The  influence  of  the  native  press  especially  grew  to  be 
very  great,  and  its  circulation  too  received  a  great  fillip.  This 
may  be  said  to  have  gone  on  till  1897,  when  India  entered  upon 
a  disastrous  cycle  of  years  during  which  plague  and  famine 
gave  rise  to  grave  political  discontent  which  found  exaggerated 
expression  in  the  native  press,  both  in  the  vernacular  and  in  En- 
glish. The  deterioration  in  the  tone  of  a  section  of  the  press  be- 
came accentuated  as  years  went  on  and  prosecutions  for  sedi- 
tion had  little  effect  in  checking  the  sinister  influence. 

In  1910  Lord  Minto  passed  a  Press  Act  applicable,  not  like 
Lytton's  Act,  to  the  peccant  part  alone,  but  like  Canning's  measure, 
to  the  entire  press.     {Vide  infra  "The  Indian  Press  Law.") 

The  press  is  a  great  factor  in  the  progress  of  nations  in  the 
modern  world.  Whether  the  advent  of  the  British  in  this  country 
was  a  dispensation  of  Providence,  as  the  late  Mr.  Gokhale  put  it, 
or  whether  it  was  quite  the  reverse,  we  have  to  judge  the  whole 
of  the  British  administration  from  its  early  beginning  to  the 
present  time  by  its  attitude  towards  the  evolution  and  growth  of 
free  institutions  in  this  country.  The  press  in  India  is  considered 
by  some  as  one  of  the  glorious  achievements  of  British  rule  in 
India.  It  must  be  said,  however,  and  even  the  short  summary 
given  by  ime  in  the  beginning  of  this  paper  is  sufficient  to  prove  it, 
that  the  press  in  India  has  evolved  and  developed  in  spite  of, 
rather  than  because  of  the  British  connection.  It  appears  it  has 
been  the  aim  of  the  administration  as  a  whole  to  throttle  and 
curb  the  liberty  of  the  press  rather  than  to  allow  freedom 
of  action  and  a  free  atmosphere  in  the  Indian  press.  The  attitude 
towards  the  press  of  the  viceroys  and  all  the  heads  of  different 
provinces  may  be  sometimes  different,  some  viceroys  and  gover- 
nors being  more  liberal  than  others.  The  bureaucracy,  however, 
as  such,  has  never  pretended  to  conceal  its  studied  dislike  of  the 
Indian  press  and  has  manifested  its  hostility  on  all  possible  oc- 
casions. The  repeal  of  the  Press  Act  and  other  enactments  now 
suggested  by  the  Press  Act  Committee  of  the  Imperial  Council 
gives  reasons  to  hope  that  with  the  dawn  of  representative  in- 
stitutions in  this  country  which  we  had  recently  with  the  inaugura- 


540       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

tion  of  the  Montagu-Chelmsford  reforms,  we  may  have  the 
same  Hberty  of  the  press  as  is  enjoyed  in  civilized  Western  coun- 
tries. I  have,  however,  my  doubts  on  the  point  and  beheve  that 
such  a  liberty  in  the  full  sense  of  the  term,  will  not  be  forth- 
coming till  India  is  placed  in  possession  of  full  self-government. 


JOURNALISM  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 


By  James  Schermerhorn, 
Publisher,  The  Detroit  Times,  Detroit,  Michigan,  U.  S.  A. 

Here  are  a  few  "fat  takes"  from  the  hook  of  the  latest  Census 
Bureau  report:  There  are  20,431  newspapers  and  periodicals 
in  the  United  States,  the  aggregate  yearly  circulation  of  which 
is  15,475,145,102  copies. 

There  are  2,433  daily  papers,  putting  out  32,735,937  copies 
daily,  or  five  papers  for  every  16  people ;  952  Sunday  papers  cir- 
culate 19,929,834  copies  every  Sunday. 

Journalism  has  been  described  as  "the  vast  shadow  of  the 
public  mind."  Its  vastness  is  revealed  by  the  value  of  its  prod- 
ucts in  1919,  which  was  $612,718,515,  an  increase  of  116  per 
cent  in  five  years. 

Subscriptions  and  sales  produced  $204,638,214,  an  increase 
for  the  five  year  period  of  195.9  per  cent.  Advertising  totalled 
$407,760,301,  an  increase  of  121.5  per  cent.  Out  of  every  three 
dollars  of  revenue  one  dollar  came  from  the  reader  and  two 
dollars  from  the  advertiser. 

Journalism  thus  partakes  of  the  prodigiousness  of  every  hu- 
man enterprise  in  the  republic.  The  shadow  is  keeping  up  with 
the  substance  in  all  of  its  immensity,  its  almost  unbelievable 
progress. 

Circulation  in  one  or  two  instances  crowds  a  million  daily. 
Advertising  is  just  as  close  to  a  yearly  total  of  twenty-five  mil- 
lion lines  in  papers  leading  in  metropolitan  fields. 

A  New  York  morning  paper  that  celebrated  the  completion 


Appendix  541 

of  twenty-five  years  under  the  present  ownership  in  August 
last,  offers  an  illustration  of  the  wonders  in  American  journal- 
ism. In  twenty-five  years  it  has  grown  from  a  net  paid  circula- 
tion of  9,000  copies  to  352,000  copies.  Its  gross  annual  income  is 
$15,000,000. 

But  this  is  not  the  record  for  America.  In  two  years  the 
New  York  News,  a  picture  paper  of  tabloid  form,  climbed  from 
zero  to  over  400,000.  You  will  not  know  the  most  astonishing 
fact  in  newspaper  achievement  in  America  until  you  wait  to 
see  what  tomorrow  brings  forth. 

Behold  how  great  an  illumination  the  colonial  authorities  of 
Massachusetts  started  in  September,  1690,  when  they  published 
their  distaste  and  disallowance  of  a  printed  sheet  entitled  Publick 
Occurrences  and  promptly  suppressed  it.  Publick  Occurrences 
was  the  little  candle  that  threw  its  beam  down  the  centuries  until 
it  grew  into  twenty  thousand  torches ;  until  its  light  was  multi- 
plied thirty-three  million  fold. 

Tonnage  of  white  paper  of  domestic  manufacture  consumed 
in  1919  was  1,324,000,  valued  at  $98,560,000.  Imported  paper 
brought  this  up  to  over  2,000,000  tons.  The  critical  print  situa- 
tion during  the  world  war  compelled  several  publishers  to  make 
their  own  paper,  taking  over  old  mills  or  building  new  ones. 

With  the  soaring  price  of  white  paper  and  labor  costs  came 
the  era  of  the  three  cent  price.  In  several  cities  the  price  has 
dropped  to  two  cents  since  the  print  paper  market  has  softened, 
but  there  is  little  liklihood  that  the  one  cent  paper  will  ever  come 
back. 

With  respect  to  news  collecting  and  mechanical  facilities, 
journalism  in  the  United  States  has  a  story  to  tell  quite  as  en- 
thralling as  its  report  of  commercial  expansion.  The  United 
States  now  feels  itself  next-door  neighbor  to  the  distant  peoples 
of  the  earth,  and  the  supplementing  of  three  great  news-gathering 
associations  with  services  and  syndicates  organized  .by  leading 
papers  in  this  country  insures  such  a  thorough  covering  of  the 
whole  field  as  the  American  press  never  contemplated  heretofore. 

Mechanically  it  is  hard  to  imagine  what  new  marvel  awaits 
newspaper-making.  It  is  hard  to  think  at  all  because  an  electric 
type-writer   is  pounding  out  the  press   dispatches   just  outside 


542       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  door  as  this  is  written.  The  telegraph  operator  who  took  the 
day's  story  from  the  clicking  key  is  no  more.  The  flimsy  now 
comes  straight  from  the  unmanned  typing  machine.  Science 
has  given  the  sender  in  the  bureau  at  New  York  or  Chicago  arms 
long  enough  to  sit  in  his  relaying  station  and  operate  a  type- 
writing keyboard  hundreds  of  miles  distant. 

First  the  mail-carrier  on  horseback ;  then  the  telegraph,  tele- 
phone, wireless  and  airplane ;  and  now  the  device  that  combines 
telegraphy  and  typing — that  is  how  the  collection  of  news  is  ad- 
vancing. 

And  putting  it  into  newspaper  through  linotype  machines  of 
enlarged  capacity  and  through  stereotyping  and  pressroom  facili- 
ties of  vastly  improved  technique — including  the  rich  effects  of 
the  photogravure  process — and  finally  getting  the  paper  to  the 
reader  with  a  dispatch  derived  from  twentieth  century  triumphs 
in  transportation  and  organization,  are  operations  facilitated  by 
mechanical  marvels  no  less  thrilling  than  the  newspaper  methods. 

Competition  makes  this  up-to-date  equipment  necessary,  and 
the  installation  of  the  same  and  increased  scale  of  wages  in  all 
departments  make  it  out  of  the  question  for  a  modern  daily  news- 
paper to  live  very  long  upon  the  favor  of  corporations  or  political 
candidates,  or  upon  the  grievance  which  someone  may  bear 
against  a  paper  in  the  field.  To  launch  a  newspaper  now  is  a 
serious  business  undertaking,  and  only  ample  capital  and  expense 
offer  hope  of  survival.  These  fail  likewise  more  often  than 
they  succeed  against  well-conducted  publications  that  have  been 
long  entrenched.  Of  the  publishing  and  printing  establishments 
reporting  to  the  Bureau  of  Federal  Taxes  in  1919  one-third 
showed  no  profits  earned.  In  the  larger  cities  the  percentage  of 
unprofitable  publications  is  greater  than  this. 

This  is  not  quite  as  bad  as  the  opinion  of  that  experienced 
publisher  who  said  the  average  newspaper  venture  is  about  as 
liable  to  declare  a  dividend  as  a  church  is ;  but  it  is  enough  to 
give  pause  to  venturesome  souls  who  rush  in  where  angels  fear 
to  tread.  From  1914  to  1919  there  was  a  10.2  per  cent  decrease 
in  the  number  of  newspapers  and  periodicals. 

Publick  Occurrences,  the  first  newspaper  to  feel  the  dis- 
pleasure of  the  authorities,  was  not  the  last  one  to  call  down  pun- 


Appendix  543 

ishment  upon  the  publisher.  James  FrankHn  (an  elder  brother 
of  Benjamin  Franklin)  was  haled  before  the  General  Court  for 
boldly  reflecting  upon  His  Majesty's  Government  in  the  New 
England  Courant,  in  1721.  John  Peter  Zenger  was  acquitted  of 
the  charge  of  libeling  the  Colonial  Governor,  William  Crosby, 
in  the  New  York  Weekly  Journal  in  1734,  and  he  shared  with 
Samuel  Adams,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Boston  Advertiser, 
the  glory  of  having  established  the  freedom  of  the  press  and 
given  early  expression  to  the  principle  that  governments  derive 
their  just  powers  from  the  consent  of  the  governed. 

Nobody  is  trying  to  stop  anybody  from  printing  a  newspaper 
in  the  United  States  nowadays.  Nobody  is  trying  to  stop  any- 
body from  having  newspapers  in  six  or  eight  different  cities  or 
a  newspaper  league  from  having  newspapers  in  twenty-five  dif- 
ferent cities.    There  are  several  strings  of  dailies  in  America. 

What  can  be  done  is  to  stop  newspapers  from  printing  cer- 
tain things.  The  libel  laws  of  the  states  make  it  necessary  for 
the  newspapers  to  be  ever  vigilant  lest  they  do  injury  to  the 
reputation  or  feelings  of  a  citizen  through  the  publication  of 
something  that  cannot  be  sustained  in  court.  To  the  credit  of 
American  publishers  be  it  said  that  instances  of  the  collection  of 
damages  for  libel  are  very  rare. 

Theodore  Roosevelt,  when  President,  directed  the  attorney 
general  to  bring  suit  against  the  New  York  World  for  slander- 
ing the  government  in  its  Panama  Canal  disclosures  and  just  now 
Mayor  Thompson  is  suing  two  Chicago  newspapers  for  libeling 
the  city  in  the  mayoralty  campaign  of  1920.  President  Roose- 
velt's suit  was  quashed,  as  Mayor  Thompson's  will  be. 

The  law  has  been  invoked  successfully,  however,  to  keep  un- 
fit things  out  of  the  advertising  columns  of  the  newspaper. 
Private  medical  abominations,  misleading  mercantile  advertise- 
ments and  wildcat  investments  have  been  very  generally  elim- 
inated through  the  enactment  of  honest  advertising  laws  in  thirty- 
seven  states  and  blue  sky  laws  in  forty-three  states.  It  is  un- 
fortunate that  more  reputable  newspapers  did  not  clean  house 
before  the  advertising  clubs  of  the  country  compelled  them  to 
do  so.  By  continuing  to  sell  space  to  charlatans  and  knaves 
they  facilitated  the  nefarious   schemes   of  these  imposters  and 


544       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

left   it  to  a   few   self-censored   journals  to   fight  the  fight   for 
clean  advertising  alone. 

Thirty-two  cities  have  Better  Business  Bureaus  to  enlist  the 
co-operation  of  advertisers  in  keeping  newspaper  columns  free 
from  fraudulent  copy. 

Twice  a  year  all  newspapers  admitted  to  the  mails  as  second- 
class  matter  must  file  affidavits  of  circulation  and  give  the  names 
of  the  publisher,  editor  and  business  manager  and  of  stockholders 
holding  over  one  per  cent  of  the  stock ;  also  the  names  of  mort- 
gagors, if  any. 

"The  vast  shadow  of  the  public  mind."  The  public  mind  is 
all  business.  It  seeks  to  retrieve  what  it  lost  in  the  war  or  to 
make  as  much  again  as  it  made  in  the  war.  There  is  no  ques- 
tion that  the  public  mind  was  never  more  commercial  than  now. 

The  shadow  is  true  to  the  substance.  Journalism  also  is  sor- 
did. It  was  as  ready  as  anybody  to  be  self-forgetful  when  the 
shadow  of  autocracy  was  projected  toward  the  United  States, 
and  now  it  is  as  ready  as  anybody  to  join  in  the  revised  hymn, 
"Bring  forth  the  royal  dividend,  and  crown  it  king  of  all." 

There  was  at  the  outset  a  journalism  of  protest  that  put  free 
press  into  the  constitution.  There  followed  a  journal  of  ad- 
vocacy that  helped  to  forward  abolition  and  emancipation.  But 
protest  and  appeal  have  given  way  to  thirty-three  million  daily — 
to  a  journalism  of  repetition.  Whatever  influence  journalism  has 
today  springs  from  saying  the  same  thing  many  millions  of  times. 

No  great  authority  thunders  from  the  editorial  page.  No- 
body knows  which  member  of  the  staff  was  responsible  for  the 
brilliant  thing  that  took  hold ;  indeed  it  may  not  have  been  any- 
one on  the  staff.  It  may  have  come  in  the  syndicate  stuif  from 
outside  the  ofifice,  which  enables  many  publications  to  be  equally 
readable  at  one  and  the  same  time. 

For  the  reason  already  given — the  terrific  expense  of  keep- 
ing a  modern  newspaper  plant  going — journalism  in  the  United 
States  is  not  an  opinion-moulding  journalism ;  it  is  a  money- 
making  journalism.  It  is  a  department  store  journalism ;  the 
voice  of  the  full-page  advertiser  is  the  voice  of  God. 

Not  that  the  publisher  gains  the  whole  world  (a  page  a  day) 
and  loses  his  own  soul.    Not  that.     He  doesn't  barter  away  his 


President   Hakdixg    (left)    IIkahs  fuom   ShxuKTAUY-'ruKAsiKKU   Huowx 

IvKl'ORT    OK    TllK    CoXtiUKSS. 


Appendix  545 

birth-right  or  change  his  convictions  to  get  the  department  store 
business.  He  goes  no  further  in  commission  or  omission  than 
anyone  would  go  to  cultivate  one  of  his  best  customers. 

But  he  knows  that  the  large  advertiser  wants  circulation  and 
does  not  care  particularly  what  kind  of  a  paper  the  publisher 
makes  in  order  to  get  it.  He  knows  that  the  feminine  readers  of 
the  paper  take  more  interest  in  the  store  news  than  in  all  the 
other  departments  of  the  paper  combined.  The  department  store 
proprietor  knows  it,  too,  and  he  expects  and  gets  a  better  rate 
than  the  buyers  of  smaller  space  pay. 

The  publisher  must  get  from  two  to  three  dollars  from  the 
advertiser  for  every  dollar  from  the  reader.  He  must  get  the 
advertising  of  the  majority  of  the  big  stores  or  he  will  not  be 
able  to  make  his  paper  pay.  Therefore  columns  of  flippant  and 
pornographic  stuff  that  pains  the  cultured  reader  but  which  the 
publisher  justifies  with  the  dictum :  "We  are  giving  the  people 
what  they  want."  Therefore  the  reluctance  of  editors  to  take  up 
causes  of  doubtful  popularity.  The  last  two  amendments — ^pro- 
hibition and  equal  sufifrage — were  put  over  in  the  face  of  the 
silence  or  the  scoffing  of  the  leading  metropolitan  journals  of 
America.  The  success  of  these  two  great  movements  measured 
the  decline  of  the  influence  of  the  journalism  of  America  outside 
of  the  country  press,  where  the  personality  of  the  publisher  and 
his  participation  in  social  reforms  have  their  effect  upon  com- 
munity sentiment. 

Civilization  has  conducted  itself  like  a  skulking  campfollower 
since  the  guns  of  the  World  War  sounded  "cease  firing."  Ter- 
rible passions  have  been  unloosed ;  homicide  has  become  an  in- 
dustry of  first  rank.  Hatred,  intolerance,  restiveness  are  rife. 
A  journalism  that  must  have  the  large  advertisers,  does  more  to 
reflect  than  correct  this  terrible  aftermath  of  five  years  of  whole- 
sale blood-letting.  The  good  of  society  demands  that  the  hideous- 
ness  of  a  world  out  of  joint  be  kept  down ;  the  business  office 
demands  that  circulation  be  kept  up. 

There  are  exceptions  to  the  system  of  giving  the  people  what 
they  want.  You  can  tell  them  by  the  small  circulation  with  which 
they  are  credited  in  the  newspaper  annual.  At  the  same  time 
there  are  a  few  really  great  and  successful  journals  that  maintain 

35 


546       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

a  high  standard;  that  have  souls  above  vulgar  comics  and  the 
salacious  testimony  of  orgies  in  de  luxe  hotels  and  divorces  in 
high  life.  Journalism  is  no  less  commercial  with  these  publica- 
tions of  character ;  they  are  serving  a  constituency  that  demands 
a  higher  quality  of  goods.  Very  fortunately  they  have  found 
a  field  that  is  responsive  to  decency. 

The  journalism  of  the  United  States  has  been  at  its  best  in 
the  critical  junctures  of  the  nation's  history.  It  will  be  at  its 
best  when  the  next  great  emergency  arises,  no  matter  how  the 
trail  of  materialism  may  be  over  all  now. 

That  eminent  political  psychologist  was  right  who  said  he 
could  well  dispense  with  editorial  support  or  endure  editorial 
dissent  if  the  first  page  gave  him  a  fair  show.  A  journalism  that 
can  say  the  same  thing  thirty-three  million  times  a  day  must  be 
reckoned  with  as  a  great  factor  in  the  formation  of  public  senti- 
ment if  what  it  says  or  reports  inspires  popular  confidence;  if  it 
can  cleanse  itself  of  the  stigma  of  excessive  commercialism. 

To  do  this  a  disadvertisement  conference  should  be  called. 
Make  it  a  world's  disadvertisement  conference  if  you  like.  It 
is  too  much  to  expect  that  complete  disadvertisement  can  be 
brought  about  or  that  it  is  desirable  until  all  nations  agree  to 
disadvertise.  But  advertisements  and  newspapers  can  be  lim- 
ited in  size,  so  that  the  daily  prints  shall  not  smack  so  strongly 
of  the  market  place. 

Disadvertisement  should  put  an  end  to  department  store  dom- 
ination of  journalism.  A  half  page  should  be  the  maximum  space 
allowed  any  advertiser.  This  would  guarantee  just  as  great  vis- 
ibility to  the  advertiser  and  should  bring  the  newspaper  just  as 
much  revenue  as  the  old  full-page  spread.  A  higher  rate  for 
reduced  space  will  relieve  the  over-emphasis  now  put  upon  cir- 
culation, and  make  economically  possible  a  definite  improvement 
in  the  content  of  American  publications.  There  will  be  less 
smutting  up.  Modern  efificiency  will  in  good  time  demand  a  less 
bulky  and  awkward  form ;  the  time-saving  tabloid  sheet  is  as 
certain  to  come  as  heat  and  power  from  the  sun. 

Hope  of  a  journalism  not  altogether  stripped  of  idealism  is 
heightened  by  the  growth  of  schools  of  journalism  in  the  great 
universities  of  the  country.     Columbia  and  the  state  universities 


Appendix  547 

of  Missouri,  Minnesota,  Michigan,  Illinois,  Wisconsin  and  Kan- 
sas are  doing  notable  work  in  this  line.  They  are  giving  to  the 
profession  competently-trained  young  men  and  women  who  bring 
with  them  a  passion  to  serve  their  fellowmen.  The  big  adver- 
tiser who  would  make  a  billboard  of  the  newspaper  page  must 
be  made  to  move  over  and  give  these  eager  recruits  room  and  a 
chance  to  bring  back  a  journalism  of  culture,  constructiveness 
and  influence. 


THE  AUSTRALIAN  PRESS 


By  Guy  Innks, 
Associate  Editor,  The  Melbourne  Herald,  Victoria,  Australia. 


Australia's  press,  which  meets,  with  enterprise  and  success, 
the  news  requirements  of  a  nation  of  five  and  three-quarter  mil- 
lion people  occupying  a  continent  rather  larger  in  area  than  that 
of  the  United  States,  follows  British  rather  than  American  tra- 
ditions and  methods,  though  in  some  cases  American  ideas  are 
being  gradually  introduced.  The  more  conservative  morning  jour- 
nals, however,  still  adhere  almost  exclusively  to  the  British  model 
of  the  established  type,  the  London  Times  and  the  Manchester 
Guardian  being  their  ideal  rather  than  the  breezy,  newsy,  attrac- 
tively displayed  journal  of  the  class  whose  best  exemplar  is  the 
London  Daily  Mail.  "Be  brief  and  bright"  is  a  motto  which  the 
evening  papers  rather  than  the  morning  papers  prefer  to  obey. 
They  avoid  as  far  as  possible  the  portentous  and  the  ponderous ; 
they  are  not  afraid  of  the  use  of  display  headings  (although  the 
writing  of  headings  as  America  understands  them  is  an  art  largely 
to  be  learned  in  Australia)  ;  and  there  is  a  marked  difference  be- 
tween the  encyclopedic  seriousness  of  the  oldest  Sydney  morning 
paper,  with  its  solid  columns  of  type,  and  the  lighter  and  more 
cheerful  methods  of  the  metropolitan  evening  dailies,  which  have 
learned  the  value  of  the  "human  interest"  story  as  compared  with 
the  disquisition  on  politics  or  the  conscientious  report  of  a  par- 


548       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

liamentary  debate.  On  the  whole,  it  may  be  said  that  the  Aus- 
tralian newspaper  and  the  Australian  newspaper  man  successfully 
challenge  comparison  with  those  of  other  countries. 

There  are  nearly  eight  hundred  and  fifty  newspapers  in  Aus- 
tralia, the  leading  organs  being  published  in  the  capital  cities  of 
Melbourne  (Victoria),  Sydney  (New  South  Wales),  and  Ade- 
laide (South  Australia),  though  Perth  (West  Australia),  Bris- 
bane (Queensland),  and  Hobart  and  Launceston,  the  chief  cities 
of  the  island  State  of  Tasmania,  ably  fulfill  their  part.  From 
both  the  editorial  and  the  commercial  points  of  view,  the  papers 
are  conducted  with  honesty,  vigor,  and  ability,  nor  is  there  any 
case  on  record  where  corrupt  motives  have  swayed  the  policy  of 
an  Australian  journal.  Though  certain  critics  have  said  that  a 
lack  of  humor  is  a  feature  of  Australian  journalism,  serious- 
ness is  seldom  pursued  to  the  point  of  stodginess ;  yet  in  the  en- 
deavor to  carry  conviction  by  sheer  earnestness  there  is  some- 
times on  the  part  of  some  of  the  older  papers  a  disposition  to 
emphasize  the  portentously  trite  rather  than  to  yield  to  the  temp- 
tation inherent  in  the  motto  of  one  American  city  room :  "Dare 
to  be  as  funny  as  you  can."  Humor  as  such  is  therefore  largely 
relegated  to  the  professedly  frivolous  columns  of  the  Australian 
press,  the  news  and  editorial  sections  preferring  to  be  serious ; 
although  it  must  not  be  understood  from  this  that  a  vivid,  graphic 
news  story  does  not  receive  the  prominence  to  which  it  is  en- 
titled. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  display,  the  evening  papers  are 
undoubtedly  in  advance  of  their  morning  contemporaries,  which, 
amazing  as  it  may  seem  to  American  readers,  devote  their  front 
pages  to  advertisements  and  place  their  best  news,  both  cabled 
and  local,  on  what  is  known  as  the  "open  pages" — that  is  to  say, 
the  pages  which  are  presented  to  the  eye  when  the  paper  is 
opened  midway,  the  editorials,  personal  column,  and"star  items" 
being  on  the  left  hand  page,  and  the  cables,  other  "star  items," 
and  leading  local  stories  filling  the  page  on  the  right  hand.  Near- 
ly all  the  leading  evening  papers,  however,  put  their  best  news 
on  page  one,  right  in  the  shop  window,  where  one  would  logically 
expect  to  find  it.  The  evening  papers,  too,  are  ahead  of  the 
morning  papers  in  the  frequent  use  of  illustrations — 'the  newsier 
the  better. 


Appendix  549 

A  valuable  review  of  journalism  in  Australia  is  to  be  found 
in  a  paper  presented  at  the  recent  World's  Press  Congress  by 
Mr.  J.  E.  Davidson,  a  well-known  Australian  newspaper  director 
and  editor  who  gained  his  earlier  press  experience  in  the  United 
States.  He  makes  pointed  reference  to  one  characteristic  of 
the  Australian  press  which  is  beginning  to  disappear,  except  from 
those  few  journals  whose  conductors  still  believe  that  there  is 
much  to  be  said  for  the  Stone  Age;  that  dullness  is  safe,  and 
seriousness  profitable ;  and  that  innovations  in  the  attractive  pres- 
entation of  news  must  be  very  gravely  considered  as  detracting 
from  that  appearance  of  stability  which  is  considered  to  be  in- 
separable from  a  journal  which  has  achieved  success  through  con- 
servative methods,  and  whose  motto  must  be  "As  it  was  in  the 
beginning,  is  now,  and  ever  shall  be,  world  without  end,  Amen." 

"The  Australian  newspaper  reader,"  says  Mr.  Davidson  with 
some  truth,  "likes  his  paper  to  have  exactly  the  same  appearance 
from  day  to  day.  He  wishes  to  find  its  several  features  all  in 
precisely  the  same  part  of  the  paper  each  day."  This  idea,  how- 
ever, is  slowly  losing  its  hold.  Australians,  who  are  ninety-eight 
per  cent  British  born  or  of  British  stock,  are  eager  newspaper 
readers.  The  standard  of  education  is  high,  and  the  majority  of 
the  city  dwellers  read  at  least  two  newspapers  daily.  Mentally, 
they  are  Missourians — "you've  got  to  show  them ;"  but  once  they 
can  be  convinced  that  new  methods  are  the  best,  they  can  be  con- 
verted. 

Hence,  what  is  called  the  "lead"  in  American  journalism,  once 
unknown  in  Australia,  is  being  more  and  more  widely  adopted 
as  those  who  produce  the  newspapers  become  assured  that  the 
public  wants  to  know  the  news  as.  soon  as  possible,  and  prefers 
each  item  to  be  introduced  by  a  compact  paragraph  summarizing 
the  whole  story  rather  than  being  compelled  to  wade  through  half 
a  column  of  matter  before  being  able  to  ascertain  "what  happened 
to  Jones."  It  is  no  longer  fully  true,  therefore,  to  say  (as  was 
undoubtedly  the  case  until  recently)  that  in  Australia  a  news- 
paper story  must  start  at  the  "beginning"  and  work  up  to  a 
climax — that  a  police-court  item  must  first  set  out  when  and 
where  the  court  was  held,  the  name  of  the  accused  man,  and 
the  charge ;  that  the  evidence  must  follow  in  the  order  in  which 


550       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

it  was  submitted,  and  the  fate  of  the  person  concerned  must  be 
carefully  concealed  until  the  last  paragraph  is  written — unless 
perhaps  it  is  disclosed  in  the  headline. 

Before  the  Australian  States  federated  in  1901,  the  news- 
papers devoted  an  undue  proportion  of  their  space  to  politics, 
giving  parliamentary  reports  in  stereotyped  form,  often  to  the 
extent  of  seven  columns.  As  more  than  half  the  population  of 
Australia  is  in  the  State  capitals,  this  gave  the  metropolitan  jour- 
nals great  political  power,  some  of  them  being  able  to  decide  the 
fate  of  ministries.  But  after  1901,  as  Mr.  Davidson  points  out, 
national  matters  began  to  overshadow  State  affairs.  The  real 
Australian  spirit,  which  came  to  full  maturity  and  splendor  on 
the  cliffs  of  Gallipoli  and  the  stricken  fields  of  France,  was  born. 
In  the  national  arena  a  paper  which  had  been  politically  supreme 
in  its  own  State  exerted  but  a  modified  influence,  inasmuch  as  it 
could  not  influence  the  electors  of  other  States  where  it  had  no 
circulation.  Therefore  general  news  began  to  come  into  its  own. 
The  world  war,  too,  gave  a  tremendous  impetus  to  the  publication 
of  cable  news,  services  in  this  respect  being  amplified  to  an  ex- 
tent which  has  permanently  increased  the  value  of  the  Australian 
press  as  a  purveyor  of  world  intelligence.  Cable  rates  are  less 
costly  than  they  were,  and  must  be  cheaper  still  before  the  Aus- 
tralian public  has  the  supply  of  news  from  overseas  which  it  has 
the  right  to  demand.  Excellent  as  is  the  present  service,  the  gen- 
eral adoption  of  wireless  transmission  will  improve  it  still  more, 
and  it  is  gratifying  to  learn  that  not  only  is  the  Australian  Govern- 
m.ent  planning  for  the  adoption  of  a  satisfactory  system  of  news 
transmission  by  wireless  from  Imperial  sources,  but  that  more 
than  passing  attention  has  been  given  to  a  scheme  for  utilizing 
American  radio  as  well. 

As  secondary  industries  began  to  grow  and  flourish  in  Aus- 
tralia— and  to  the  success  of  these  not  only  an  adequate  protec- 
tive tariff,  but  the  necessity  imposed  by  the  diversion  to  other 
channels  for  war  service  of  many  of  the  vessels  in  which  goods 
had  been  imported,  largely  contributed — ^a  large  wage-earning 
population  grew  up  in  the  big  cities.  Australia  became  a  manu- 
facturing as  well  as  a  pastoral,  agricultural,  and  mining  com- 
munity, and  the  Labor  Party  rose  to  power.    Against  that  power 


Appendix  551 

both  Conservative  and  Liberal  newspapers  ranged  themselves, 
their  attitude  varying  from  direct  opposition  to  armed  neutrality ; 
but  the  Labor  Party  eventually  secured  majorities  not  only  in 
several  of  the  State  Legislatures,  but  in  the  Federal  Parliament 
as  well.  Though  it  does  not  now  occupy  the  Treasury  Benches 
in  the  Commonwealth  Legislature,  it  is  a  force  to  be  reckoned 
with,  and  publishes  five  daily  journals,  none  of  which,  however, 
are  issued  in  the  two  principal  capitals — Melbourne  and  Sydney, 
with  respective  populations  of  723,500  and  792,700.  But  even 
ardent  Labor  supporters  will  concede,  that  none  of  these  papers 
can  compare,  either  as  newspapers  or  as  organs  of  public  opin- 
ion, with  even  those  in  the  third  rank  of  the  non-Labor  press. 
Nor,  say  the  working  newspaper  men,  are  they  preferable  as 
employers. 

Peculiarly  Australian  are  the  weekly  papers  issued  for  the 
most  part  from  the  offices  of  the  leading  dailies.  The  Sydney 
Bulletin,  which  is  world-famous,  is  one  of  the  very  few  week- 
lies which  is  not  published  by  a  daily  paper  proprietary.  It  stands 
by  itself  in  more  senses  than  one.  The  others  are  about  the  size 
and  format  of  the  Saturday  Evening  Post,  but  contain  about 
three  times  as  many  pages,  and  are  published  for  eighteen  cents 
a  copy.  They  are  a  godsend  in  the  "back-blocks" — the  pastoral 
and  agricultural  regions  more  or  less  remote  from  the  large 
towns,  for  they  contain,  in  addition  to  admirable  summaries  of 
the  cable,  local,  and  interstate  news  of  the  week,  comprehensive 
sections  dealing  with  agriculture,  the  pastoral  industry  (Aus- 
tralia has  ninety  million  sheep  and  twelve  million  cattle),  fruit 
and  vine-growing,  mining  (Australia  has  produced  three  billion 
dollars  worth  of  gold),  commerce  and  finance,  sporting  (Two 
hundred  thousand  people  attend  the  Melbourne  Cup,  a  horse- 
race held  at  Flemington,  near  Melbourne,  as  the  chief  event  of 
the  Spring  Carnival,  and  from  fifty  to  seventy  thousand  witness 
the  League  football  finals,  while  thousands  are  present  at  the  in- 
ternational and  interstate  cricket  matches),  and  short  and  serial 
stories.  These  papers  also  contain  excellent  pictorial  and  photo- 
graphic sections  in  which  current  events  are  portrayed  on  super- 
calendared  paper. 

Only  in  Sydney,  New  South  Wales,  and  in  Perth,  West  Aus- 
tralia, are  Sunday  papers  pubHshed.      Three    Sydney    Sunday 


552       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

papers  are  excellent  productions,  largely  on  American  lines,  and 
at  least  one  of  them  contains  a  comic  section — a  comparatively 
recent  innovation.  In  Victoria  the  Police  Offences  Act  forbids 
the  publication  of  a  Sunday  paper,  except  on  occasions  of  na- 
tional importance,  which  must  not  exceed  three  in  any  one  year. 
Sporting  papers  are  numerous,  the  Sydney  Referee  being  well- 
known  outside  Australia.  The  Melbourne  Herald  prints  a 
special  sporting  edition  every  Saturday  evening,  copiously  illus- 
trated and  dealing  with  all  classes  of  athletics. 

The  law  of  libel,  particularly  in  New  South  Wales,  is  far 
more  strict  in  Australia  than  seems  to  be  the  case  in  America. 
Truth  is  not  necessarily  a  defence,  the  principle  adopted  being 
that  nothing  must  be  printed  which  is  calculated  to  hold  a  citizen 
up  to  offensive  ridicule,  or  to  injure  or  damage  him  in  the  eyes 
of  his  fellows.  The  regulations  governing  contempt  of  court, 
also,  are  rigorously  administered.  In  Australia  the  personal 
note  is  not  sounded  in  journalism  to  anything  like  the  extent  it 
is  in  America.  To  publish  intimate  details  of  a  pending  divorce 
suit,  for  instance,  would  not  be  thought  of  until  the  case  was 
actually  before  the  court,  and  the  evidence  was  being  given. 
Other  legal  restrictions  forbid  the  publication  of  betting  odds  be- 
fore a  race  takes  place,  although  in  the  description  of  the  race 
after  it  has  occurred  these  may  be  given.  No  reference  is  per- 
mitted in  the  press  of  some  of  the  States  to  Tattersall's  Sweeps, 
a  large  racing  "consultation"  with  its  headquarters  in  Tasmania. 
It  is  popular  all  over  Australia,  and  conducts  sweepstakes  on  all 
the  important  races,  in  which  the  public  purchase  tickets  on  the 
principle  of  a  lottery,  the  winners  of  first  prizes  receiving  as  much 
as  $25,000  each  after  the  organization  has  deducted  its  commis- 
sion. The  sweeps  are  conducted  with  scrupulous  fairness  under 
Tasmanian  government  supervision,  yet  the  Australian  Common- 
wealth postal  regulations  forbid  the  carrying  of  mail  matter  ad- 
dressed to  Tattersall's.  The  object  is,  of  course,  to  discourage 
gambling.  Sweeping  generalities  have  been  published  from  time 
to  time  about  the  gambling  tendencies  of  Australians,  but  these 
have  been  exaggerated.  The  Australian  loves  a  horse,  and  loves  to 
take  a  sporting  chance — that  is  one  reason  why  Australian  Light 
Horse  soldiers  so  distinguished  themselves  in  Palestine  during  the 


Appendix  553 

war.  Let  those  who  say  the  Australian  is  a  gambler  read  the  ac- 
count, in  the  Australian  Official  War  History,  of  the  charge  of 
General  Grant's  Queenslanders  (light  cavalry  armed  with  rifle  and 
bayonet)  over  the  crowded  Turkish  trenches  at  Beersheba.  And  let 
him  also  ponder  the  fact  that  the  savings  bank  deposits  in  Aus- 
tralia, quite  apart  from  the  deposits  in  banks  of  issue,  represent 
two  hundred  and  fifty  dollars  per  capita  for  four  million  de- 
positors out  of  a  total  population  of  five  and  three  quarter  mil- 
lion people. 

A  curious  legislative  enactment,  passed  by  the  Federal  Parlia- 
ment at  the  instance  of  the  Labor  Party  in  the  hope  of  lessening 
the  political  influence  of  the  papers  which  opposed  it,  is  the  sec- 
tion of  the  Electoral  Act  (which  does  not  apply  to  purely  State 
elections)  providing  that  between  the  date  of  the  issue  of  the  writ 
for  an  election  and  the  return  of  that  writ  to  the  Speaker  after 
the  election  is  over,  every  article  in  any  paper  commenting  on 
matter  relating  to  the  election  or  on  election  issues  must  be  signed 
by  the  man  who  wrote  it.  The  idea  was  that  the  views  of  Potiphar 
M.  Quad,  for  instance,  published  as  such,  would  carry  nothing 
like  the  weight  or  exert  anything  like  the  influence  inherent  in 
the  same  article  appearing  as  the  views  of  the  powerful  political 
organ  in  which  it  was  printed.  But,  in  operation,  the  provision, 
although  more  or  less  adhered  to  in  the  letter,  became  almost  a 
joke.  Its  effect,  if  any,  was  to  bring  into  deserved  prominence 
and  give  weight  in  the  eyes  of  the  community  to  men  whose  iden- 
tity had  hitherto  been  undisclosed  beyond  the  walls  of  the  offices 
which  employed  them.  Even  this  was  not  certain,  for  in  some 
cases  the  article  bore  the  name  of  everyone  concerned  in  its  genesis 
except  the  compositor  who  set  it  up.  In  others,  it  was  announced 
at  the  foot  thereof  that  it  was  "written,  after  consultation,  to 
express  the  views  of  the  Daily  Reverberator  by  William  Peter 
Thompson."  The  Sydney  Bulletin  overcame  the  problem  by 
printing  on  certain  of  its  pages  a  laconic  statement  to  the  effect 
that  for  any  matter  thereon  requiring  a  signature  in  accordance 
with  the  Act  S.  H.  Prior,  James  Edmond,  David  McKee  Wright, 
and  J.  B.  Dalley  took  the  responsibility.  If  the  copy-reader  were 
in  a  frivolous  frame  of  mind,  he  occasionally  appended  to  a 
humorous  paragraph  on  nature  study,  such  as  purported  to  ans- 


554       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

wer  the  query  "Do  Barmaids  Swallow  Their  Young?"  a  brief 
footnote  to  the  effect  that  as  their  might  be  some  lurking  sig- 
nificance in  the  item,  patent  only  to  the  trained  political  eye, 
which  came  under  the  purview  of  the  act,  wherefore  the  writer 
must  be  announced  as  John  Smith,  16  Acacia  Avenue,  Mosman, 
N.  S.  W.  Whereat  no  one  was  more  surprised  than  John  Smith. 
Salaries,  working  hours,  holidays,  and  sick  leave  of  newspaper 
men  in  Australia  are  decided  by  law.  The  system  has  worked 
very  satisfactorily  in  the  eleven  years  during  which  it  has  been 
in  operation.  The  maximum  salary  fixed  by  law  is  not  necessarily 
the  maximum  actually  paid,  for  a  progressive  paper  will  pay  extra 
to  retain  a  good  man,  or  will  induce  him  to  leave  another  jour- 
nal by  the  offer  of  a  higher  salary  than  he  is  receiving.  Briefly, 
Australian  working  journalists  are  members  of  the  Australasian 
Journalists'  Association,  to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  trade  union 
registered  under  the  Commonwealth  Industrial  Law.  It  has  ob- 
tained by  appeals  to  the  Commonwealth  Court  of  Conciliation  and 
Arbitration  awards  fixing  minimum  salaries  and  hours  and  con- 
ditions of  work. 

The   leading   Australian   daily   papers   are   published   in   the 
capital  cities  of  the  various  States,  and  though  there  are  some  pro- 
vincial journals  of  importance,  space  forbids  particularizing  them. 
The  chief  morning  papers  are: 
Melbourne  (Victoria) — The  Argus,  The  Age. 
Sydney  (New  South  Wales) — Sydney  Morning  Herald,  Syd- 
ney Daily  Telegraph. 
Brisbane    (Queensland) — Brisbane  Courier,  Brisbane  Daily 

Mail,  Brisbane  Standard  (Labor). 
Adelaide    (South  Australia) — The   Register,   The  Adelaide 

Advertiser. 
Perth  (West  Australia) — The  West  Australian. 
Hobart  (Tasmania) — ^^The  Mercury,  The  Post  (Labor). 
The  principal  evening  dailies  are : 
Melbourne — The  Herald. 
Sydney — The  Sun,  The  Evening  News. 
Brisbane — The  Telegraph. 
Adelaide — Evening  Journal. 
The  majority  of  the  Australian  daily  papers  do  not  publish 


Appendix  555 

their  circulation  figures.  The  circulation  of  the  Melbourne  morn- 
ing dailies,  however,  is  about  150,000  a  day  each,  while  that  of 
the  evening  Herald  has  touched  230,000,  though  this  is  excep- 
tional. The  Sydney  Sun  (evening)  lays  claims  to  upwards  of  a 
million  a  week,  but  the  Sydney  morning  papers  make  no  categorical 
statement.  Their  circulation,  however,  is  understood  to  be  about 
that  of  the  Melbourne  morning  papers,  with  some  advantage  in 
favor  of  the  Sydney  Morning  Herald,  an  old-established  organ 
which  is  in  the  nature  of  a  public  institution. 

Without  going  into  detail,  which  would  be  apt  to  be  technical, 
of  the  organizations  for  supplying  Australia  with  cable  news,  or 
of  the  internal  economy  of  the  newspaper  offices  and  their  staffs, 
which  differ  little,  except  in  terminology,  from  those  of  the 
British  and  American  papers,  it  must  here  be  said  that  the  chief 
need  in  Australia  is  a  cheaper  cable  rate,  and  a  cheap  wireless 
service,  particularly  from  America.  These  matters,  as  has  been 
said,  are  the  subject  of  constant  consideration.  To  cable  news 
to  Australia  of  the  Washington  Disarmament  Conference,  from 
which  the  present  writer  dispatched  from  750  to  1500  words  daily 
to  his  home  papers,  cost  (exclusive  of  overland  telegraphic  charges 
in  Australia)  sixteen  cents  a  word  at  press  rates,  sixty-six  cents 
for  full  rate,  and  198  cents  for  urgent  messages.  This  takes  no 
account  of  the  amount  each  paper  must  pay  for  cables  from  other 
parts  of  the  world,  notably  London,  New  York,  Vancouver,  Tokyo 
and  elsewhere.  Until  these  charges  have  been  reduced  the  Aus- 
tralian press  camiot  play  to  the  full  its  part — and  this  part  is  vital 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  Australia  and  New  Zealand,  the  southern- 
most outposts  of  the  English-speaking  race,  have  as  their  nearest 
white  neighbor  the  United  States  more  than  six  thousand  miles 
away — in  establishing  for  all  time  a  patriotism  of  the  Pacific. 
The  basis  of  that  patriotism  must  be,  as  Senator  Pearce,  the 
Australian  delegate  to  the  Disarmament  Conference,  pointed  out 
in  a  recent  speech  delivered  imder  the  auspices  of  the  English- 
speaking  Union  in  New  York,  "a  complete  understanding,  not 
merely  between  the  United  States  of  America  and  Australia,  but 
between  the  United  States  of  America  and  the  British  Empire." 
To  that  understanding  the  Washington  Conference  has  done  much 
to  contribute.     American  and  Australian  newspapers  and  public 


556       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

men  may  aid  in  its  complete  accomplishment.  To  quote  Senator 
Pearce  again :  "This  continent  (AustraHa)  is  garrisoned  by  a  scant 
five  and  a  half  millions  of  white  people.  Within  a  day's  steam  of 
our  shores  there  is  one  lone  island  that  has  a  bigger  colored  pop- 
ulation than  the  whole  of  Australia.  Within  five  days'  steam  of 
our  shores  there  are  fifty  millions  of  colored  people,  and  within 
a  fortnight  of  our  shores  they  run  into  the  hundreds  of  millions 
.  .  .  But  the  Empire  of  which  we  are  a  part  is  .  .  ,  six 
weeks'  steam  by  the  fastest  steamer.  When  we  look  across  the 
Pacific,  however,  we  are  within  three  weeks'  steam  of  this  great 
white  Republic  of  America.  You  will  see,  therefore,  the  angle 
from  which  Australia  looks  at  America,  and  you  will  appreciate 
our  desire  that  we  should  gain  your  interest,  that  we  should  re- 
tain your  good-will." 


THE  EVOLUTION  OF  THE  NEW  ZEALAND  PRESS 


By  Mark  Cohen, 
Editor,  The  Star,  Dunedin,  New  Zealand. 

To  tell  the  story  of  the  evolution  of  the  press  of  our  Domin- 
ion is  to  write  in  considerable  degree  the  political  history  of  our 
country,  for  the  advent  of  the  newspaper,  using  that  term  as 
popularly  understood  and  generally  accepted,  dates  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  struggle  by  the  pioneer  colonists  to  secure  for 
themselves  and  their  immediate  descendants  what  is  now  euphe- 
mistically termed  the  right  of  "self-determination ;"  in  other  words 
to  work  out  their  own  political  salvation. 

You  have,  therefore,  to  charge  your  minds  with  the  all-im- 
portant factor  that  New  Zealand  was  colonized  by  peoples  with 
divergent  aspirations,  though  in  the  main  animated  by  one  ab- 
sorbing desire,  viz.  to  better  the  conditions  and  modes  of  living 
under  which  they  had  existed  in  the  lands  from  which  they  emi- 
grated. Thus,  to  Auckland  came  people  from  all  parts  of  Great 
Britain,  while  the  outbreak  of  hostilities  against  the  powerful 
warlike  hapus  or  tribes  in  the  North  Island,  dating  from  the  war 


Appendix  557 

of  Hone  Heke,  who  hauled  down  the  British  flag  at  the  Bay  of 
Islands,  to  the  marauding  gangs  of  bloodthirsty  miscreants  who 
under  the  leadership  of  Te  Kooti  and  Tito  Kowaru  led  to  the 
importation  of  ten  thousand  disciplined  British  troops  under 
Generals  Cameron  and  Chute,  reinforced  by  thousands  of  volun- 
teers from  Australia,  who  flocked  to  the  Queen's  standard  under 
a  system  of  land  grants  which  were  the  means  of  partitioning 
among  these  irregulars  the  confiscated  lands  of  the  rebellious 
natives.  Mid-Auckland,  the  Waikato,  the  King  or  Uriwera 
country,  Taranaki,  the  East  Coast  of  the  North  Island,  Gisborne, 
the  Wairarapa  and  the  Wairau  Valley  (Marlborough  in  the  South 
Island)  were  the  scenes  of  many  pitched  battles  or  of  awful  mas- 
sacres of  pakcha  families.  Then,  following  on  the  revolutionary 
era  in  Central  Europe  bands  of  Lutherans,  Scandinavians,  Danes, 
and  Austrians,  fearful  of  the  wrath  of  the  military  reactionaries 
of  their  own  countries,  fled  to  New  Zealand  as  refugees  from 
prescription  on  account  of  their  religious  faith  or  because  of  an 
alleged  taint  of  treason.  Even  the  hardy  fishermen  and  seamen 
of  the  maritime  provinces  of  Canada  came  to  the  Far  North  of 
Auckland,  where  they  founded  prosperous  settlements.  Port 
Nicholson,  as  it  was  then  called,  was  an  insignificant  whaling 
village.  All  the  possibilities  of  its  harbor  and  the  capabilities  of 
its  back  country  were  recognized  by  a  Royal  Commission,  selected 
in  Australia,  which  was  entrusted  with  the  duty  of  removing  the 
seat  of  government  from  Auckland  and  building  it  in  a  safe 
location  "somewhere  on  Cook  Strait."  In  1864  that  commis- 
sion recommended  in  favor  of  Port  Nicholson,  and  ultimately 
the  seat  of  government  was  transferred  from  the  shores  of 
Waitemata  to  those  of  what  is  now  known  as  Wellington,  a  city 
of  more  than  one  hundred  thousand  people.  Nelson  had  been 
selected  by  the  New  Zealand  Land  Company  with  Colonel  Gib- 
bon Wakefield  as  its  guiding  spirit,  as  the  future  home  of  its 
band  of  emigres;  Port  Cooper  (now  Lyttleton)  was  the  haven 
greeted  after  encountering  the  manifold  dangers  of  the  long  voy- 
age from  the  Old  Land ;  and  those  who  traversed  the  ocean  in  the 
first  four  ships  when  they  crossed  the  range  that  separates  the 
port  from  what  is  now  Christchurch,  were  rewarded  with  the 
sight  of  a  veritable  Promised  Land  of  fertile  plains  and  rolling 


558       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

downs  stretching  to  the  foothills  of  the  mighty  Alpine  range, 
which  is  capped  by  Mount  Cook  (over  twelve  thousand  feet) 
with  its  huge  snow  fields  and  glittering  glaciers.  These  Canter- 
bury Pilgrims  were  the  bone  and  sinew — the  very  salt  of  the 
earth — of  the  midland  counties  and  university  cities  of  Eng- 
land. And  farther  to  the  southward  the  Calvinists  and  Cove- 
nanters— the  men  and  women  who  rather  than  desert  the  church 
of  their  forefathers  turned  their  backs  on  Bonnie  Scotland,  the 
land  of  their  nationality,  and  in  the  year  of  the  great  disruption 
set  their  faces  sorrowfully  in  quest  of  a  Terra  Incognita.  In 
March  1848  they  founded  Dunedin,  or  a  new  Edinburgh,  on  what 
was  then  an  Ultima  Thule  and  Britain's  fartherest  flung  posses- 
sion. 

Before  I  proceed  to  discuss  the  rise  and  progress  of  our  news- 
paper press,  let  me  put  it  on  record  here  as  a  matter  absolutely 
beyond  dispute  that  the  first  printer  in  our  country  was  William 
Colenso  (long  since  deceased)  who  was  attached  to  the  Church 
of  England  mission  under  George  A.  Selwyn,  the  first  Anglican 
Bishop  and  who,  with  primitive  presses  and  types  of  his  day,  pub- 
lished all  the  Scriptural  leaflets  circulated  among  the  Maoris  by 
that  mission.  That  was  many  years  before  the  advent  of  the 
earliest  colonists.  Colenso,  who  was  a  philanthropist  and  a  man 
of  letters,  endowed  the  town  of  Napier,  where  he  lived  for  some 
time  before  his  death,  with  a  valuable  library. 

The  first  broadsheet,  though  it  can  hardly  be  dignified  with 
the  title  of  newspaper,  was  the  New  Zealand  Gazette.  It  was 
owned  by  the  New  Zealand  Company,  and  was  edited  by  Samuel 
Revans,  who.  with  his  family,  settled  in  the  Wairarapa.  It  made 
its  first  appearance  in  the  Colony  on  April  18,  1840.  It  contained 
the  draft  of  the  Constitution  for  New  Zealand ;  it  was  demy  in 
s'ye;  and  when  the  infant  settlement  of  whites  was  shifted  from 
the  Wairarapa  to  Port  Nicholson  its  title  was  changed  to  New 
Zealand  Gazette  and  Britannia  Spectator,  but  when  the  name 
of  the  embryo  capital  was  changed  to  Wellington,  Britannia  was 
dropped.  In  October,  1841,  it  was  issued  twice  instead  of  once 
a  week.  '  '  ■""^•"^^^^''^ 

It  may  not  be  out  of  place  to  mention  here  the  name  of  another 
New  Zealand  colonist,  who  was  intimately  associated  with  Revans 


Appendix  559 

both  in  our  country  and  in  Canada,  where  they  collaborated.  I 
allude  to  Henry  Samuel  Chapman,  for  a  short  time  a  judge  of 
our  Supreme  Court,  Colonial  Secretary  of  Tasmania,  and  a  short 
time  Attorney  General  of  the  colony  of  Victoria  (Aust.)  One 
of  his  sons  (Frederick  Chapman)  recently  retired  from  the  Su- 
preme Court  bench  to  take  charge  of  the  law  drafting  depart- 
ment of  the  Legislature.  As  far  back  as  1833  Chapman  &  Revans 
were  journalistic  partners  in  Montreal,  where  they  started  the 
Daily  Advertiser  which  was  a  very  small  venture  and  soon  be- 
came merged  in  a  bigger  paper.  But  it  enjoyed  the  proud  dis- 
tinction, though  I  cannot  find  the  fact  recorded  in  any  Canadian 
bibliography,  of  having  been  the  first  daily  published  in  English 
North  America.  Chapman  emigrated  from  Canada  in  1834,  pro- 
ceeding to  England  as  the  unofficial  representative  of  the  Liberal 
party  of  the  Parliament  which  was  not  then  in  session.  Revans, 
however,  remained  in  Canada,  and  in  1837  became  involved  in 
the  Papineau  rebellion,  with  the  result  that  a  price  was  put  on 
his  head.  But  he  managed  to  get  out  of  the  country  without  the 
loss  of  his  head.  In  1839  the  first  batch  of  colonists  sailed  from 
England  for  Wellington,  and  Revans  was  among  them,  arriving 
in  the  Adelaide,  which  was  not  the  first  ship  to  cast  anchor  in 
Port  Nicholson,  though  she  was  the  first  to  do  so  with  any  con- 
siderable number  of  immigrants  aboard.  He  brought  his  print- 
ing press  with  him,  published  his  first  tiny  number  in  London, 
and  printed  the  second  issue  on  the  beach  at  Petone,  where  today 
stands  the  factory  of  the  Wellington  Woolen  Company,  and  is 
a  busy  thriving  industrial  suburb  of  the  Capital  City.  It  was 
intended  to  have  located  the  future  city  at  Petone,  but  in  the 
end  the  present  site  was  chosen  and  surveyed.  Before  the  year 
was  out  Revans  shifted  his  plant  to  Wellington,  where  it  pur- 
sued its  career  as  the  organ  of  the  Company.  In  Revans'  hands 
the  Gazette  was  a  fiery  paper,  for  he  was  very  combative  and 
always  spoiling  for  a  fight  with  the  authorities. 

Chapman's  connection  with  the  New  Zealand  press  can  be 
briefly  told.  In  January,  1840,  after  the  first  ships  had  sailed 
from  London,  but  long  before  news  of  their  arrival  had  come  to 
hand,  he  started  the  New  Zealand  Journal  in  London,  and  today 
it  constitutes  the  most  valuable  compendium  of  New  Zealand's 


560       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

early  history.  There  are  said  to  be  only  four  copies  in  existence — 
one  in  the  possession  of  the  Hon.  F.  R.  Chapman ;  one  in  the 
Turnbull  library  at  Wellington;  a  third  in  the  Hockin  library  at 
Dunedin,  while  the  fourth  was  stolen  from  the  shelves  of  the  Gen- 
eral Assembly  library,  its  present  location  being  unknown  to  this 
deponent.  The  New  Zealand  Journal  was  later  merged  in  the 
New  Zealand  and  Australian  Gazette.  When  Mr.  Chapman  was 
offered  a  judgeship  in  New  Zealand  he  sold  the  Advertiser  and 
with  his  wife  and  one  child  sailed  for  the  Colony  in  the  same 
vessel  that  conveyed  Governor  Fitzroy  to  the  scene  of  his  duties. 
They  were  respectively  sworn  in  on  the  same  day,  December  26, 
1843,  at  the  gardens  of  the  Government  House — gardens  that 
remain  to  adorn  the  city  of  Auckland. 

To  return  to  Revans.  He  edited  the  Gazette  from  1840  till 
the  arrival  of  the  colony  of  William  Fox,  a  London  barrister, 
who  had  been  appointed  agent  of  the  New  Zealand  Company 
and  who  rose  afterwards  to  political  eminence,  becoming  Premier 
of  the  Colony.  He  was  equally  caustic  with  his  tongua  as  with 
his  pen,  and  became  a  thorn  in  the  side  of  the  administration, 
which  he  rigorously  and  persistently  attacked.  But  the  settlers 
were  not  blessed  with  a  plethora  of  ready  cash,  and  while  admir- 
ing Fox's  philippics  and  praising  his  courage,  did  not  provide  him 
with  the  sinews  of  war,  and  in  the  issue  of  January  22,  1842, 
he  told  them  bluntly  that  he  could  not  carry  on,  heaping  coals  of 
fire  on  their  heads  by  saying  that  some  had  never  subscribed  a 
single  shilling  since  the  paper  started. 

Nothing  daunted  by  Fox's  discouraging  avowal,  Richard  Han- 
son, another  London  lawyer  with  experience  of  London  jour- 
nalism, brought  out  the  Colonist  and  Port  Nicholson  Advertiser 
in  1842,  and  for  a  whole  year  this  pair  of  legal  buccaneers  in- 
dulged in  vituperation  of  the  approved  Eatonsville  type.  In 
1843  Fox  succeeded  Colonel  Gibbon  Wakefield  as  attorney  for 
the  New  Zealand  Company,  and  vacated  the  editorial  chair.  The 
management  of  the  Gazette  was  then  placed  on  commission,  a 
committee  of  control  being  elected  every  six  months,  but  the 
companionship,  alleging  poor  remuneration,  appealed  to  Caesar, 
the  public  furnishing  them  with  the  means  of  acquiring  the 
Gazette  and  buying  a  new  plant  in  Sydney. 


Appendix  561 

In  April,  1844,  on  the  ashes  of  the  Gazette  arose  the  Inde- 
pendent under  the  direction  of  Mr.  Thomas  W.  McKenzie,  who 
made  a  profitable  sale  to  a  syndicate.  It  was  printed  on  the 
first  fiat-bed  machine  introduced  into  New  Zealand,  and  had  seen 
service  under  the  Fairfaxes  in  Sydney.  Undoubtedly  the  in- 
tention was  to  establish  a  metropolitan  journal,  on  the  lines  of 
the  Sydney  Morning  Herald  and  the  Melbourne  Argus,  and  it 
was  whispered  at  the  time  that  a  former  governor  was  responsible 
for  the  enterprise,  which,  however,  failed  in  its  purpose  and  cost 
a  not  inconsiderable  sum.  Then  a  Mr.  Robert  Stokes,  of  Hawkes 
Bay,  issued  the  New  Zealand  Spectator  and  Cook  Strait  Guard- 
ian in  the  interests  of  Sir  George  Gray,  and  in  its  columns  ap- 
peared a  series  of  brilliant  articles  from  the  pen  of  Mr.  Alfred 
Domett,  then  Colonial  Secretary  of  New  Munster,  as  the  South 
Island  was  called,  while  Messrs.  Fox,  Featherston  and  Ian  E. 
Fitzgerald — a  powerful  triumvirate  of  colonial  politicians — wrote 
with  even  greater  power  and  certainly  with  more  circumspection 
in  defense  of  democratic  ideals.  The  literary  duel  was  waged  on 
both  sides  with  much  didactic  skill  and  with  great  bitterness  till 
the  Constitution  of  the  Colony  was  proclaimed  in  March,  1853. 
Among  those  who  made  their  influence  felt  during  these  stressful 
times  through  the  medium  of  the  Independent  were  Dr.  Evans 
(a  member  of  the  new  Constitutional  Government)  Edward  Gib- 
bon Wakefield,  Edward  Jerningham  Wakefield  and  Henry  Sewell 
(attorney  general  in  more  than  one  Administration).  Both  the 
Independent  and  the  Spectator  were  issued  as  weeklies,  and  gen- 
erally appeared  late  in  the  afternoon.  When  no  printing  paper 
of  the  required  size  was  obtainable  on  the  market,  these  papers 
were  printed  on  blotting  paper,  and  when  this  article  ran  short, 
coarse  wrapping  paper  had  to  be  resorted  to,  and  oft-times  two 
sheets  of  demy  had  to  be  pasted  together.  And  frequently,  as 
the  settlers  had  no  ready  money,  the  printer  had  to  be  content 
with  the  liquidation  of  his  account  per  the  medium  of  barter  by 
way  of  firewood,  farm  produce,  fish,  etc. 

Mr.  Wakefield  retired  from  the  editorship  of  the  Independent 
in  1856  to  become  confidential  clerk  to  Isaac  Earl  Featherston, 
who  was  elected  the  first  Superintendent  of  Wellington  Province 
and  later  was  selected  as  the  first  Agent-General  for  New  Zea- 

36 


562       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

land  in  London.  It  was  Wakefield  who  in  an  article  published  in 
the  Independent  at  the  close  of  the  1856  session,  bestowed  on 
Wellington  the  grandiloquent  title  of  "Empire  City,"  by  which  it 
is  often  known  now. 

John  Knowles  and  Henry  Anderson — names  familiar  to  New 
Zealanders  in  the  late  fifties  and  early  sixties — successively  filled 
the  editorial  chair,  both  being  capable  writers.  Again  the  com- 
positors became  troublesome  and  eventually  started  a  paper  of 
their  own  under  the  title  of  the  Advertiser,  demy  size,  which  was 
distributed  gratuitously  for  a  while.  In  these  days  there  was  no 
registration  of  newspapers,  and  no  compulsion  to  disclose  the 
owners'  names,  but  files  of  the  Advertiser  tell  of  Bull  Brothers 
being  its  publishers  and  Mr.  Wakefield  as  editor.  Originally  is- 
sued as  a  double  demy  weekly,  and  afterwards  as  a  tri-weekly,  it 
did  so  M^ell  that  it  seemed  as  if  it  were  to  become  a  permanent  in- 
stitution, but  the  gall  with  which  Wakefield  dipped  his  trenchant 
pen  was  spilt  over  the  Speaker  of  the  Provincial  Council,  who 
took  out  a  writ  for  libel  against  the  paper.  Wakefield  lost  the 
action,  was  mulct  in  damages,  and  was  ruined.  A.  F.  Halcombe 
was  the  next  editor,  but  did  not  improve  the  fortunes  of  the 
paper.  Eventually,  during  the  governorship  of  Sir  James  Fer- 
guson, an  efifort  was  made  to  give  it  a  metropolitan  prestige  like 
that  enjoyed  by  the  Melbourne  Argus,  the  Sydney  Morning 
Herald,  the  Brisbane  Courier  and  the  Adelaide  Advertiser,  to 
which  end  the  new  management  gathered  in  Australia  a  stafif  of 
transcendent  talent,  which  came  and  saw  but  did  not  conquer. 

In  1874  the  Independent  having  fallen  on  bad  times,  was  ac- 
quired by  a  syndicate  and  Vogel,  on  taking  charge,  altered  its 
name  to  the  New  Zealand  Times.  Robert  J.  Creighton,  a  jour- 
nalist not  unknown  to  the  dwellers  on  the  Pacific  slope,  for  he 
was  largely  identified  with  the  Webb  line  of  steamers  that  ran 
under  contract  between  San  Francisco  and  visited  monthly  the 
ports  of  Auckland,  Wellington  and  Port  Chalmers  (the  deep 
water  port  of  Otago)  was  given  editorial  charge,  and  he  led  a 
staff  of  experienced,  versatile,  and  energetic  men,  filled  with  am- 
bition to  succeed  where  other  venturesome  spirits  had  failed  to 
establish  a  true  colonial  journal.  But  though  the  war  against 
provincialism  was  nearing  the  victorious  stage,  the  spirit  of  Pro- 


Appendix  563 

vincial  independence  was  far  from  being  subdued;  and  Creigh- 
ton  fared  no  better  than  the  Austrahan  importation.  Then  fol- 
lowed a  series  of  lean  years,  the  effects  of  which  were  only  con- 
spicuously shown  in  the  reduced  patronage  of  the  Times'  ad- 
vertising columns.  At  one  time  it  issued  a  well-illustrated  weekly 
called  the  Marl  but  it  also  went  into  the  limbo  of  forgotten  pub- 
lications when  hard  times  set  in.  It  was  now  recognized  that  the 
project  of  setting  up  a  colonial  journal  was  at  least  half  a  century 
in  advance  of  the  requirements  of  less  than  half  a  million  people. 
Our  railways  were  fragmentary ;  Cobb's  coach  was  the  one  means 
of  transporting  paper  parcels,  and  though  the  postal  department 
(under  the  aegis  of  Vogel)  gave  free  transportation  through  the 
mails,  the  telegraphic  authorities  of  that  day  were  decidedly  un- 
sympathetic and  made  the  telegraphic  tolls  so  burdensome  that 
the  wires  had  to  be  used  sparingly. 

When  Seddon  jumped  into  the  ministerial  saddle  and  ruled 
the  country  with  a  masterful  hand  which  brooked  no  interfer- 
ence with  "his  somewhat  bizarre  methods,  he  found  it  absolutely 
necessary  to  have  an  organ  which  would  "boost"  the  Seddonian 
platform  for  all  it  was  worth,  and  he  was  able  ultimately  to  se- 
cure a  controlling  interest  in  the  Times  which  became  the  recog- 
nized mouthpiece  of  Liberalism,  according  to  its  new  high  priest, 
and  of  the  "trade"  with  distinct  leanings  towards  a  particular 
church.  But  there  were  too  many  interests,  that  often  clashed, 
to  be  served.  Managers  came  and  departed  with  bewildering 
rapidity ;  there  was  never  a  semblance  of  a  settled  policy  till 
Robert  Loughnan,  a  scholarly  writer  and  a  genuine  man  of  af- 
fairs, assumed  editorial  control.  Though  in  the  sere  and  yellow 
his  critical  forces  are  unimpaired  and  it  is  always  easy  to  discern 
his  well  rounded  periods  and  epigrammatic  style  in  the  unsigned 
articles  that  often  adorn  the  Times'  pages  today.  When  the  gen- 
eral election  of  1908  showed  that  the  Liberals  had  lost  the  con- 
fidence of  the  country,  and  that  the  banner  of  reform  was  likely 
to  be  carried  to  victory  at  the  succeeding  appeal  to  the  constitu- 
encies those  opposed  t(f  the  regime  of  Seddon  (who  died  dra- 
matically at  Sydney  in  1906  in  the  zenith  of  his  fame)  and  Ward, 
his  natural  successor  in  the  Premiership,  had  the  prescience  to 
establish  a  morning  paper  under  the  title  of  the  Dominion,  in 


564       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

which  to  preach  the  new  evangel.  Selecting  as  editor  Charles 
W.  Earle,  who  had  served  an  excellent  apprenticeship  under 
Wesley  Lukin  on  the  Evening  Post  he  was  permitted  to  surround 
himself  with  some  of  the  brightest  intellects  in  the  Dominion.  So 
many  of  them  have  been  among  my  closest  personal  friends,  some 
have  been  trained  under  my  own  eyes  in  Dunedin,  that  it  would 
be  neither  right  nor  fitting  to  individualise,  but  candor  and  truth 
compel  me  to  avow  that  M.  C.  Keene  (now  editor-in-chief  of  the 
Christchurch  Press)  was  facilis  princeps  among  a  devoted  band 
of  workers  that  set  the  Dominion  on  a  solid  foundation  from  the 
very  start.  And  these  men  knew  how  to  bring  off  a  "scoop"  early 
in  their  career.  When  our  Parliament  House  was  destroyed  by 
fire  early  in  1908  they  stopped  the  press,  lifted  in  a  new  plate  with 
a  good  "write-up"  of  the  conflagration,  illustrated  the  scene,  and 
dispatched  the  extraordinary  issue  into  the  country  districts  far 
and  wide,  while  the  Times  was  silent  as  the  grave  over  the  de- 
plorable incident. 

Under  the  Liberal  regime  it  was  largely  a  case  of  spoils  to  the 
victors  as  far  as  government  patronage  by  way  of  advertising  is 
concerned,  but  the  Reformers  have  instituted  a  publicity  depart- 
ment, directed  by  H.  B.  View,  an  experienced  pressman,  which 
prepares  and  circulates  all  ministerial  communiques  to  the  press 
and  distributes  advertising  matters  on  the  basis  of  the  public  in- 
terest, gauged  by  largeness  of  circulation — the  only  real  test  of 
value  of  service — or  in  a  cot  or  town  with  two  or  more  papers 
having  equal  claims  to  conservatism  their  ministerial  favors  are 
apportioned  alternately,  according  to  departmental  needs. 

Wellington's  first  evening  paper,  in  fact  its  first  daily,  was 
issued  in  February,  1865,  by  Henry  Blundell,  who  on  the  decline 
of  the  goldfield  at  Wakamaeino,  transferred  his  printing  press 
from  the  township  of  Harelock,  in  Marlborough  province,  to 
Wellington.  He  lived  long  enough  to  see  the  Evening  Post  grow 
to  be  one  of  the  most  lucrative  newspaper  enterprises  in  the  sou- 
thern hemisphere.  His  eldest  son  John  was  in  charge  of  the 
mechanical  department.  Henry  (long  since  dead)  directed  the 
commercial  and  publishing  branches,  and  Louis,  the  youngest, 
who  began  life  as  a  humble  scribe  among  the  men  who  go  down 
in  ships,  is  today  the  sole  representative  of  the  original  firm,  the 


Appendix  565 

eldest  brother,  John,  now  being  permanently  incapacitated.  I 
served  as  its  parliamentary  hand  way  back  in  the  early  seventies, 
when  it  was  printed  on  a  Columbian  hand-press,  and  was  issued 
as  a  four-page  demy  sheet  on  the  top  floor  of  premises  that  were 
awash  at  neap  tides  which  invaded  the  ground  floor!  Today  its 
business  premises  off  Willis  Street  are  a  common  rendevouz,  as 
the  headlines  of  all  cabled  and  special  telegrams  are  displayed  on 
its  broad  windows ;  while  all  the  mechanical  and  literary  depart- 
ments are  housed  in  the  rear.  Naturally,  I  have  known  all  its 
editors,  and  served  under  quite  a  number  of  them.  Those  I  re- 
member most  affectionately  were  Frank  Gifford,  erudite  and  ac- 
complished ;  Henry  Anderson,  Charles  W.  Purnell,  Chas.  Rous 
Marten,  E.  T.  Gillon,  D.  M.  Luckie,  and  Wesley  Lukin.  Gifford 
the  Incomparable  and  Lukin,  the  beloved  "Commodore,"  who 
during  his  unique  career,  always  fought  for  due  recognition  of 
journalism  as  a  profession  equal  in  importance  to  the  bar,  the 
forum,  or  the  pulpit,  and  succeeded  in  obtaining  for  his  literary 
staff  a  higher  rate  of  pay  than  ruled  elsewhere  in  the  Dominion, 
were  the  outstanding  figures  in  a  gallery  of  men  of  intercolonial — 
nay,  I  am  quite  justified  in  saying  international — repute.  Its 
original  circulation  was  about  two  hundred  and  fifty;  Blundell 
senior,  his  two  sons,  and  two  boys  constituted  the  "companion- 
ship;" today  there  is  an  installation  of  fifteen  linos,  and  the  es- 
tablishment boasts  of  three  rotary  three-deckers  capable  of 
printing  forty  thousand  copies  of  the  twelve,  and  occasionally 
sixteen  page  (nine  columns  each)  paper  produced  on  rush  days. 

(I  have  not  space  nor  a  desire  to  recount  the  innumerable 
journalistic  offshoots  that  cater  for  the  advertising  firms  and  sup- 
ply the  literary  needs  of  the  populations  of  Med-Wellington, 
Marlborough,  Hawkes  Bay,  Taranaki,  or  the  Far  North  of  Auck- 
land. Their  name  is  almost  legion,  and  some  of  them  have  been 
comparatively  successful.  At  the  very  head  of  this  list  I  have 
no  hesitation  whatever  in  placing  the  Wanganui  Chronicle,  which 
under  the  able  editorship  of  John  Ballance  and  managed  by  A.  D. 
Willis,  an  enterprising  printer,  became  a  very  powerful  expres- 
sion of  public  opinion,  the  remarkable  articles  that  were  the  pro- 
duct of  Ballance's  well-stored  mind  having  been  responsible  for 
turning  the  hide-bound  Conservatives  off  the  Treasury  Benches, 


566       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

altering  the  entire  scheme  of  taxation  from  a  tax  on  property 
to  a  direct  tax  on  land  and  acquired  wealth,  and  also  for  revo- 
lutionizing the  land  systems  of  the  Colony.  It  is  a  matter  of  ex- 
treme regret  that  the  alteration  of  this  Congress'  opening  date  was 
responsible  for  the  absence  from  our  body  of  Mr.  Duigan,  whose 
father  was  Ballance's  first  lieutenant  in  many  a  hard-fought  cam- 
paign against  the  evils  of  absentee  landlordism  and  the  inequi- 
table advantages  enjoyed  by  vested  interests.) 

I  have  already  indicated  how  the  settlement  of  Otago  came 
to  be  undertaken  by  Scotch  emigrants  sent  out  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Scottish  Association  in  Edinburgh.  The  first  ships  that 
anchored  in  Koputai  Bay  (our  Port  Chalmers)  in  March  1848, 
had  among  their  passengers  the  Moses  and  Aaron  of  the  settle- 
ment in  the  person  of  Captain  Cargill,  who  had  taken  part  in 
the  Peninsular  War,  and  who  had  control  politically  of  the 
colonists,  while  the  Rev.  Thomas  Burns,  a  lineal  descendant  of 
the  immortal  bard,  looked  after  and  was  responsible  for  their 
spiritual  welfare.  By  an  oversight  they  neglected  to  bring  with 
them  anyone  capable  of  producing  a  newspaper ;  but  the  want 
was  supplied  on  the  arrival  of  the  ship  Blundell  in  September, 
1848,  when  Henry  B.  Graham,  a  printer  hailing  from  Carlisle, 
was  accredited  to  them.  He  did  not  lose  any  time,  and  on  De- 
cember 13  following,  issued  the  first  number  of  the  Otago  News, 
which  was  published  on  every  alternate  Wednesday,  sold  for 
sixpence  per  copy,  was  foolscap  size,  and  contained  four  pages 
of  matter.  Graham  combined  in  himself  the  duties  of  editor, 
printer,  and  comp. 

The  career  of  the  News  was,  however,  a  checkered  one;  its 
policy  was  unsatisfactory  to  the  majority  of  settlers,  and  it  had 
no  literary  merit,  according  to  Hocken  in  his  Bibliography  of 
Otago.  In  the  following  June,  it  was  enlarged  to  folio  size, 
and  was  issued  weekly,  and  on  December  21,  1850  it  succumbed 
with  its  ninety-first  issue.  Graham,  who  had  been  in  indifferent 
health  for  some  time,  was  forced  to  resign  the  editorship,  but 
the  settlers,  in  recognition  of  the  sturdy  independence  and  cour- 
age he  had  shown  in  opposing  the  bureaucratic  tendencies  of 
Governor  Grey,  presented  him  with  a  purse  of  sovereigns.  But 
already  the  hand  of  death  lay  heavily  on  him,  and  in  the  follow- 


Appendix  567 

ing  February  his  earthly  troubles  were  mercifully  ended.  Then 
the  paper,  with  its  meagre  stock  of  type,  etc.,  was  bought  for 
one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  by  a  small  company  which  carried 
the  paper  on  under  the  title  of  the  Witness,  installing  as  editor 
William  H.  Cutten,  who  was  allied  by  marriage  to  the  reigning 
or  Cargill  family.  Cutten  drew  the  magnificent  salary  of  one 
pound  per  week.  But  he  had  a  mind  of  his  own,  and  refused 
to  write  "according  to  orders."  The  upshot  of  their  differences 
was  the  dissolution  of  the  company,  who  passed  in  their  ten  pound 
scrip,  and  handed  the  paper  (lock,  stock  and  barrel)  over  to 
Cutten,  who  secured  the  services  as  printer  of  Daniel  Campbell, 
who  came  out  from  Scotland  under  a  three  years'  employment. 
A.  B.  Todd,  who  finished  his  apprenticeship  as  a  comp  under 
Campbell,  was  paid  three  shillings  a  week.  Hacken  declares  that 
Cutten  "was  undoubtedly  able — full  of  caustic  humor  and  smart 
satire — qualities  often  valuable  in  his  onslaughts  on  the  enemies 
of  provincialism.  But  with  all  his  ability,  he  was  tiresomely  care- 
less and  procrastinating,  and  his  faithful  compositor  occasionally 
found  it  necessary  to  guard,  or  even  lock  him  up,  until  the  all- 
important  leader  was  forthcoming."  Cutten  died  full  of  years 
and  honors.  He  sat  in  our  Parliament  during  many  sessions,  and 
ultimately  enjoyed  the  dignity  of  a  well-remunerated  civil  ser- 
vant, having  charge  of  the  administration  of  the  waste  lands  of 
Otago.  In  these  primitive  days  advertising  was  not  regarded  as 
essential  to  the  success  of  a  paper ;  indeed  it  was  quite  a  neg- 
ligible quantity,  for  all  business  in  the  infant  settlement  was  done 
by  way  of  barter.  Then  the  circulation  of  the  Witness  was  lim- 
ited to  one  hundred  and  twenty  per  issue,  half  the  number  being 
dispatched  to  relatives  and  friends  in  Scotland;  and  the  cost 
was  six  pence  per  copy.  I  am  quite  safe  in  saying  that  it  cir- 
culates all  over  the  world,  is  to  be  found  in  every  town  and  ham- 
let in  Otago  and  Scotland.  One  of  its  chief  features  has  for 
many  years  been  its  weekly  column  of  "Passing  Notes,"  in  which 
the  foibles  of  the  hour  are  caustically  criticised  with  an  entire 
absence  of  rancor  and  absolutely  devoid  of  personality. 

In  similar  fashion  has  the  Star,  the  evening  paper,  had  its 
"By  the  Way"  column  into  which  some  of  the  most  brilliant  minds 
in  our  community  have  breathed  the  shafts  of  humor  interspersed 


568       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

with  wise  saws  and  modern  sayings  that  have  been  racy  of  the 
soil.  And  during  the  all  too  brief  careers  of  two  other  weeklies 
of  more  than  ordinary  merit — to  wit,  the  Southern  Mercury  and 
the  Saturday  Advertiser  the  brilliant  Vincent  Pyke  found  time  to 
write  his  novel  "Wild  Will  Enderby"  and  in  the  other  the  genial 
and  versatile  but  impertinent  Thomas  Bracken — much  better 
known  as  the  composer  of  "Not  Understood"  and  other  clever 
verses — won  universal  admiration  for  "Paddy  Marky's"  racy 
weekly  narratives. 

But  I  am  running  away  from  my  theme  and  must  return  to 
my  muttons.  Apropos  of  the  Witness  his  fellow  townsmen  had 
elected  Cutten  to  Parliament,  which  met  in  Auckland,  involving 
at  times  a  roundabout  journey  to  Sydney  and  occupying  five 
or  six  weeks.  During  his  absence  the  paper  was  managed  by 
William  Hunter  Reynolds  and  James  Macandrew,  who  later  wrote 
their  names  large  on  the  scroll  of  New  Zealand's  parliamentary 
record.  They  were  brothers-in-law,  but  of  vastly  different  tem- 
peraments. Macandrew  was  broad-visioned,  far  ahead  of  his 
generation,  and  full  of  big  ideas.  It  was  he  who  established  steam 
communication  with  Victoria,  and  foretold  the  replacement  of 
the  small,  slow  sailer  by  fast  steamers  that  would  bridge  the 
distance  between  Britain  and  Otago  in  less  than  sixty  days.  On 
the  other  hand,  Reynolds  was  inclined  to  be  ultra-Conservative 
and  a  drag  on  progress.  Naturally,  they  disagreed  about  the 
policy  of  the  paper,  with  the  result  that  on  Boxing  Day,  1856, 
Macandrew  brought  out  an  opposition  weekly  under  the  title 
of  the  Colonist.  For  eight  years  it  preached  the  gospel  of  progress 
and  immigration  according  to  Macandrew,  and  was  ultimately 
amalgamated  with  the  Telegraph  and  Colonist  edited  by  Fred 
I.  Moss,  who  years  later  became  New  Zealand's  first  administrator 
of  the  Cook  Islands.  That  was  the  only  time  that  the  supremacy 
of  the  Witness  was  really  seriously  challenged,  for  Macandrew's 
was  a  name  to  carry  on  with.  All  subsequent  attacks  were  easily 
repulsed  and  today  the  Witness  has  an  unrivalled  and  deep-seated 
hold  on  the  affections  of  the  people  of  Otago  and  the  Southland. 

The  year  1861,  when  the  discovery  of  a  paying  goldfield 
in  the  Paupeka  district  by  a  shepherd  named  Gabriel  Read,  after 
whom  the  field  was  named  and  who  received  the  government 


Appendix  569 

reward  of  one  thousand  pounds,  witnessed  an  inundation  of  ad- 
venturous spirits  from  Australia,  mainly  from  Victoria,  deter- 
mined to  try  their  fortunes  in  the  newest  El  Dorado.  Many  of 
them  had  exploited  the  rich  placer  fields  of  California;  they  had 
likewise  worked  on  the  deep  leads,  but  "missed  the  bus"  at  Ben- 
digo,  Ballarat,  Stawell,  Clunes  and  on  the  earlier  fields  of  New 
South  Wales.  They  earned  the  soubriquet  of  "New  Iniquities," 
and  were  the  very  antitheses  of  the  "Old  Identities,"  the  cogno- 
men applied  to  the  original  British  settlers.  Among  this  horde 
were  two  men  who  were  destined  to  exercise  an  enduring  in- 
fluence on  the  destinies  of  this  still  Arcadian  village.  One  was 
Julius  Vogel,  educated  in  London  as  a  metallurgist,  but  failing 
as  a  digger  took  up  journalism  at  Bendigo;  the  other  Benjamin 
Farjeon,  graduate  in  the  university  of  the  world's  experience. 
Both  were  of  Jewish  up-raising,  but  neither  was  orthodox,  and 
gradually  drifted  away  from  the  faith  of  their  fathers.  Vogel 
joined  Cutten  in  the  ownership  of  the  Witness  and  promptly  threw 
himself  into  the  vortex  of  local  politics,  ranging  himself  in  op- 
position to  Macandrew.  Realizing  that  the  time  was  ripe  for 
giving  Dunedin  the  benefit  of  a  daily  paper  Vogel  and  Farjeon 
laid  their  plans  accordingly,  and  on  November  15,  1861,  launched 
the  Otago  Daily  Times.  It  speedily  became  a  bright  constella- 
tion in  the  firmament  of  New  Zealand  journalism,  and  a  beam 
light  of  well-reasoned,  judicially-balanced  public  opinion.  In 
the  domain  of  journalism,  as  in  that  of  general  politics,  Vogel 
had  a  wonderful  faculty  for  selecting  strong  men,  and  during 
the  many  years  that  he  controlled  the  Times'  editorial  columns 
he  was  surrounded  by  a  disciplined  stafif  of  capable,  earnest  and 
most  devoted  writers,  most  of  whom  later  achieved  distinction, 
in  the  Senate,  or  attained  high  positions  in  the  Civil  Service  of 
the  country.  But  Vogel,  unfortunately,  was  a  spendthrift,  and 
threw  away  golden  opportunities  of  becoming  a  rich  man.  And 
when  he  lost  his  partner  Farjeon,  who  was  tempted  to  embark  on 
the  troubled  waters  of  ownership  in  England,  lost  what  proved 
to  be  a  gold  mine  when  worked  by  keen  business  men  on  sound 
commercial  lines.  The  Times  passed  into  the  hands  of  a  limited 
liability  company,  and  Vogel  was  succeeded  in  the  editorial  chair 
by   George   Barton,   a   graduate  of    Sydney   University.     Vogel 


570       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

was  a  ready  writer,  of  incisive  power,  possessing  a  world  of  im- 
agination and  wonderful  fertility  of  resource,  but,  oh,  what  a  vile 
penman !  Even  now  I  recall  with  a  feeling  of  real  horror  the 
hour's  of  misery  which  as  a  humble  copy  holder  I  put  in  trying 
to  decipher  those  mystifying  hieroglyphics.  Well  did  the  few 
trusted  men  of  the  companionship  earn  the  extra  pay  (one  chud) 
they  drew  for  setting  Vogel's  "leaders."  But  neither  the  bar- 
lock  nor  the  Remington  had  then  been  thought  of.  Much  signal 
service  came  to  the  Otago  community  and  to  the  colonists  of  New 
Zealand  generally  by  the  intrepid  advocacy  by  the  Times  of  Social 
Reform,  but  on  no  occasion  was  that  duty  performed  more  ef- 
fectively or  with  more  general  and  generous  appreciation  than 
when  the  paper  came  into  the  possession  of  the  present  Sir 
George  Fenwick,  who  as  editor  initiated  a  crusade  against  the 
"sweating"  dens  of  the  tailoring  and  woolen  trades  in  Dunedin. 
Aided  on  the  platform  and  in  the  pulpit  by  men  and  women  of 
light  and  leading,  Robert  Stout  (now  our  chief  justice,  then  just 
beginning  to  weave  the  laurel  that  was  to  adorn  his  intellectual 
brow)  Rutherford  Waddell,  one  of  our  ablest  divines,  who  had 
as  his  congregation  thousands  of  people  beyond  the  pale  of  St. 
Andrews  Church  (Presbyterian)  who  still  continue  to  read  with 
avidity  and  profit  spiritually  those  magnificent  scholarly  essays 
from  his  classic  pen  and  deeply-stored  memory  of  the  writings 
of  British  and  American  authors  of  world-wide  fame.  Mr.  Fen- 
wick, helped  by  a  band  of  enthusiastic  and  whole-souled  social  re- 
formers, was  enabled  to  gather  such  a  mass  of  irrefutable  testi- 
mony that  Parliament  was  compelled  by  an  outraged  public  con- 
science to  take  prompt  measures  for  the  eradication  of  the  foul  sys- 
tem. _A  royal  commission  enquired  into  the  nefarious  business  and 
made  drastic  recommendations  for  coping  with  it  effectively.  These 
soon  found  their  way  on  to  our  Statute  Book,  and  the  "sweat- 
ing" evil,  if  not  killed  outright,  has  ceased  to  be  a  menace  to  the 
moral  and  physical  well-being  of  that  section  of  our  workers  who 
were  directly  concerned.  Sanitation  on  approved  principles  is  a 
sine  qua  non  to  registration  of  any  such  factory;  our  women  op- 
eratives work  shorter  hours  under  better  conditions  and  receive 
higher  pay,  which  is  regulated  by  conciliation  councils  where 
agreement  as  to  "logs"  has  been  reached  by  mutual  forbearance. 


Appendix  571 

if  not,  then  the  Council  of  Arbitration  performs  that  duty ;  over- 
time, if  needed,  must  be  paid  for  on  a  higher  scale,  and  the  num- 
ber of  hours  have  to  be  sanctioned  by  an  inspector  of  the  Labor 
Department ;  a  maximum  of  holidays  has  been  granted  on  the 
basis  of  the  regulation  scale  of  pay;  and  the  employer  can  no 
longer  offer  a  "young"  person  just  through  her  apprenticeship 
term  a  much  reduced  wage,  with  the  alternative  of  what  is  com- 
monly called  the  "sack."  Forty-four  hours  per  week  of  five  and 
one  half  days  are  the  statutory  limitation,  but  the  workers  are 
now  urging  the  Arbitration  Council  to  reduce  the  period  to  forty 
hours,  thus  paving  the  way  for  a  Dominion  holiday  on  Saturday. 
Of  course,  the  employers  are  in  deadly  opposition  to  the  pro- 
posed innovation,  but  some  industries  and  businesses  are  recog- 
nizing the  handwriting  on  the  wall,  and  the  agitation  is  sure  to 
grow  in  strength  and  intensity  with  the  coming  years.  When  the 
time  comes  for  Sir  George  Fenwick  to  pay  the  debt  of  nature 
his  labors  as  a  philanthropist  and  worker  for  the  betterment  of 
his  fellows  may  fittingly  be  rewarded  with  this  simple  epitaph : 
"I  strove  with  all  my  might  to  uphold  the  cause  of  the  weak, 
and  I  leave  it  to  posterity  to  say  with  what  measure  of  success 
I  performed  my  task."  And  there  will  not  be  a  worker, — man, 
woman,  or  child — in  the  Commonwealth,  who  will  not  in  reply 
offer  up  this  heartfelt  prayer :  "Well  done,  faithful  servant :  go 
to  your  eternal  rest  among  the  Blest." 

In  the  natural  run  of  other  things,  and  in  following  the  se- 
quence of  events  bearing  on  my  chosen  theme  I  have  now  to 
tell  you  something  about  a  newspaper  with  the  fortunes  of  which 
I  have  been  closely  associated,  as  office  lad,  apprentice,  then 
turning  from  the  mechanical  to  the  literary  side  on  account  of 
imperfect  eyesight  I  successfully  climbed  every  rung  of  the  jour- 
nalistic ladder,  succeeding  to  the  editorial  chair  in  1897  and  re- 
tiring from  it  at  the  end  of  1920,  thus  completing  fifty-six  years 
of  continuous  service  under  one  firm,  and  putting  up  a  record  of 
which  I  am  naturally  most  proud.  I  can  honestly  claim  to  be  a 
modest  man,  wherefor  it  is  necessary  to  push  individual  virtues 
right  into  the  background,  and  I  ask  your  pardon  for  having 
struck  such  a  personal  note.  (In  the  characteristic  letter  which 
Sir  George  Fenwick  has  addressed  to  this  Congress  he  recalls 


572       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

the  fact  that  as  far  back  as  1864  he  and  I,  being  obHged  to  leave 
our  schooldays  behind  us,  entered  the  service  of  the  Daily  Times, 
he  to  learn  the  trade  of  compositor,  I  to  go  with  the  publicity 
department  to  be  a  copy  holder  to  the  printer  of  the  Government 
Gazette  issued  from  the  same  office.  Those  were  the  rollicking, 
riotous  days  of  the  gold  rushes,  and  every  kind  of  manual  labor, 
unskilled  as  well  as  skilled,  youthful  as  well  as  adult,  commanded 
big  money.  In  the  publishing  branch  besides  dispatching  the 
mail  parcels  of  the  Daily  Times  and  Witness  per  the  medium  of 
Cobb's  coach,  we  lads  had  to  work  overtime  on  Far j eon's  novels. 
He  had  been  styled  the  Colonial  Dickens,  and  his  novels  of 
"Grip"  and  "Shadows  of  the  Snow"  were  the  popular  vogue. 
Encouraged  by  the  greatest  of  England's  novelists  of  the  Vic- 
torian Era,  Far  j  eon  betook  himself  to  England,  where  he  settled 
permanently,  and  wrote  many  serial  stories  that  found  favor  in 
the  eyes  of  the  great  British  reading  public.) 

I  have  taken  up  so  much  of  your  time  in  detailing  the  progress 
of  a  few  of  our  metropolitan  newspapers  that  I  have  left  myself 
hardly  any  time  whatever  to  tell  you  about  other  journals  of 
first  importance  that  have  exercised  considerable  sway  on  our 
public  policies  in  the  past.  At  the  head  of  this  list  I  would  place 
the  Lyttelton  Times,  the  managing  director  of  which  is  Mr. 
Robert  Bell,  who  at  San  Francisco  in  1915  gave  valuable  assist- 
ance in  launching  the  Press  Congress  of  the  World,  is  the  founder 
of  the  only  School  of  Journalism  that  New  Zealand  yet  possesses, 
and  with  the  shrewdness  and  business  acumen  that  so  often  char- 
acterizes his  fellow  countrymen  from  beyond  the  Tweed  has 
been  the  head  and  front  of  several  successful  enterprises.  In 
my  judgment  you  have  done  right  well  in  deciding  to  avail  your- 
selves of  his  great  experience  and  well-balanced  judgment.  It 
is  a  great  pity  that  those  who  guided  the  destinies  of  this  paper  in 
its  earliest  years  should  have  obstinately  resisted  to  march  with 
the  times ;  had  they  done  so  the  chances  are  that  Christchurch, 
like  all  the  other  centres  of  population,  save  the  capital,  would 
have  been  content  with  one  morning,  one  evening,  and  possibly 
two  weekly  newspapers,  to  the  advantages  of  the  advertiser,  and 
to  the  exceeding  benefit  of  the  reading  public. 

At  one  time  neijotiations  to  that  desirable  consummation  had 


Appendix  573 

progressed  so  satisfactorily  that  the  goal  aimed  at  was  actually 
in  sight ;  but  the  mistaken  sentimentality  of  one  of  the  prime 
negotiators  who  would  not  sacrifice  the  title  of  Lyttelton  Times 
completely  checked  a  well  devised  scheme  of  amalgamation.  The 
Lyttelton  Times  first  saw  the  light  on  January  11,  1851,  and  was 
published  at  Lyttelton  or  Port  Cooper,  the  seaport  of  the  province 
of  Canterbury.  It  was  a  double  foolscap  sheet  of  eight  pages; 
was  issued  once  a  week  till  1854,  when  it  became  a  bi-weekly, 
so  continuing  till  1863,  and  Avas  first  issued  as  a  daily  two  years 
later.  Its  first  editor  was  James  Edward  Fitzgerald,  who  filled 
that  post  in  an  honorary  capacity  for  two  years,  and  was  relieved 
in  1854  when  Ingram  Shrimpton  arrived  from  England,  assumed 
proprietorship  and  controlled  the  editorial  colmnn.  It  is  worth  a 
passing  remark  that  Thomas  Culling,  who  was  the  first  printer, 
many  years  later  established  at  Mataura  (Southland)  the  largest 
and  best  appointed  paper-making  establishment  in  our  Dominion, 
and  also  assisted  to  found  one  of  the  largest  wholesale  stationery 
businesses  in  New  Zealand.  When  the  bulk  of  the  Canterbury 
Pilgrims  made  their  future  homes  in  Christchurch  the  Lyttelton 
Times  transferred  (in  1863)  its  plant  to  the  embryo  city,  and  I 
learned  on  searching  the  historic  records  of  the  office  that  there 
was  a  change  of  proprietorship  in  1856  when  Crosbie  Ward  and 
Christopher  Charles.  Bowen  purchased  the  property  for  five 
thousand  pounds.  In  1860  Welham  Reeves  acquired  Bowen's  in- 
terest in  the  paper.  Some  comment  on  these  names  and  the  part 
their  owners  played  in  shaping  the  political  history  of  our  coun- 
try will  be  made  by  me  later  if  an  opportunity  offers.  Off- 
shoots of  the  Lyttelton  Times  were  the  Canterbury  Times,  a  well- 
arranged,  finely  edited,  copiously  illustrated  family  paper  that 
paid  special  attention  to  agriculture  which  existed  from  1865  to 
1917,  when  to  the  regret  of  the  people  of  Canterbury,  it  svis- 
pended  and  the  Star  (evening)  started  in  1868,  which  on  Saturday 
nights  enjoys  a  great  vogue  on  account  of  its  reliable  and  ade- 
quate sporting  information,  gathered  from  all  parts  of  New 
Zealand,  as  well  as  from  Australia.  The  first  sub-editor  of  the 
Lyttelton  Times  was  Francis  Knowles  (afterwards  a  canon  in 
the  Episcopal  Church)  to  whom  succeeded  C.  C.  Bowen  in  1856. 
Of  its  original  editors  I  have  already  made  passing  reference  to 


574       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Fitzgerald,  who  was  followed  by  John  Birch,  till  the  arrival  in 
the  colony  of  Ingram.  Crosbie  Ward  had  a  long  reign  from 
1856  to  1867;  eight  years  later  came  J.  M.  Smith,  followed  by 
R.  A.  Loughnan  (1875),  William  Pemberton  Reeves  (1869); 
Samuel  Saunders  (1891)  and  M.  L.  Reading,  the  present  incum- 
bent. Political  dififerences  between  Fitzgerald  and  Reeves,  Senior, 
led  to  the  starting  of  the  Press,  to  which  Bowen  transferred  his 
services  till  he  was  appointed  to  the  magisterial  bench.  The 
Lyttelton  Times  was  the  recognized  standard  bearer  of  Liberal- 
ism, and  under  William  P.  Reeves'  management  espoused  the 
cause  of  Ballance,  Vogel,  Stout  and  Seddon  with  such  vehemence 
and  courage  that  it  was  mainly  responsible  for  Canterbury  send- 
ing to  the  Colonial  legislature  a  solid  phalanx  of  men  whose 
slogan  was  "The  Rights  of  the  Democracy  and  Justice  to  Can- 
terbury." Reeves  abandoned  journalism  for  politics,  in  which 
he  promptly  made  his  mark,  becoming  Minister  of  Labor  and 
Education  in  the  Ballance  and  Seddon  administration.  He  was 
the  author  of  our  system  of  compulsory  arbitration  for  the 
settlement  of  industrial  disputes ;  and  to  his  influence  in  the 
Cabinet  is  due  the  distinct  Socialistic  flavor  of  the  Liberal  pro- 
gramme ;  and  he  gave  a  distinct  fillip  to  the  encouragement  of 
technical  education.  He  was  our  first  High  Commissioner  in 
London,  resigning  that  important  post  to  become  a  member  of 
the  teaching  stafif  of  London  University.  When  James  E.  Fitz- 
gerald likewise  abandoned  active  journalism  to  fill  the  important 
position  of  Controller-general,  or  first  lieutenant  of  the  Min- 
ister of  Finance,  he  was  succeeded  in  the  editorship  of  the  Press 
by  I.  Colborne  Veel,  a  noted  educationalist;  after  whom  came  J. 
S.  Guthrie  and  W.  H.  Triggs,  both  promoted  from  the  sub-edi- 
torial chair,  and  the  last-named  like  myself  is  editor  emeritus. 
We  sit  alongside  each  other  in  the  nominated  branch  of  the 
legislature. 

Lastly,  let  me  mention  the  great  newspaper  of  Auckland.  In 
the  days  of  provincialism  the  New  Zealander  and  the  Southern 
Cross  were  powerful  and  well  managed  organs ;  the  Evening 
News  was  a  valuable  property  before  the  Allen  family  failed  to 
recognize  that  newspapers,  like  most  mundane  things,  must  not 
simply  mark  time.     The  enterprise  of  Henry  Brett,  powerfully 


Appendix  575 

helped  as  he  was  by  that  free  lance  of  journalism,  George  M'Cul- 
lough  Reed,  an  Irish  Presbyterian  clergyman,  who  had  a  pos- 
itive love  for  libel  actions,  laid  on  sure  foundations  the  fortunes 
of  the  Evening  Star,  which  is  a  wonderfully  lucrative  concern 
and  the  business  aptitude  of  A.  G.  Horton  (erstwhile  of  the 
Timaru  Herald)  promptly  saw  that  Auckland  was  to  be  a  pros- 
perous, progressive  city,  and  to  his  organizing  skill  is  due  in  large 
measure  the  proud  position  occupied  by  the  Herald  among  the 
dailies  of  New  Zealand,  Both  are  strong  financial  concerns ; 
are  ably  edited,  and  like  yourselves  know  the  value  of  "boosting" 
the  products  and  industries  of  their  districts. 

Of  our  weekly  papers  it  was  my  privilege  on  behalf  of  the 
Newspaper  Proprietors'  Association  to  submit  for  your  criticism 
and  inspection  specimens  of  our  best  known  publications.  Of 
the  weeklies  the  Witness  (Dunedin),  the  Press  (Christchurch), 
and  the  Herald  will  challenge  comparison,  I  think  most  favorably, 
with  journals  of  their  class — no  matter  where  published — for 
brightness  of  get  up,  for  well-selected  news  and  stories,  for  ac- 
curacy of  information,  and  for  excellence  of  illustrations.  Among 
the  less  pretentious  honorable  mention  may  perhaps  be  made  of 
the  Farmer  (Auckland),  the  Free  Lance  (Wellington),  the  Ob- 
server (Auckland),  and  the  Sporting  and  Dramatic  (also  Auck- 
land). 

Other  difficulties  that  our  press  labored  under  when  cables 
were  unknown,  and  when  communication  with  the  outside  world 
was  both  intermittent  and  not  unattended  with  danger,  let  Mr. 
Henry  Brett,  one  of  the  founders  of  the  Auckland  Star  and  him- 
self the  hero  of  many  an  exciting  adventure  at  sea,  recount  for 
your  edification,  some  of  the  incidents  which  marked  his  pro- 
gression from  role  of  shipping  reporter  to  the  dizzy  heights  of 
opulent  ownership,  in  which  latter  role  he  has  done  much,  as 
patron  of  the  fine  arts  and  by  encouragement  of  healthy  sport  of 
all  kinds,  to  add  to  the  enrichment  of  Auckland  and  to  assist  her 
to  worthily  maintain  the  title  of  "Queen  City  of  the  North."  I 
append  the  short  paper  that  Mr.  Brett  prepared  for  presentation 
to  this  Congress : 

"In  days  when  telegraphs  were  scarce  and  telephones  were 
not  invented  the  shipping  reporter — they  called  him  the  'marine 


576       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

reporter'  away  back  in  the  sixties — was  the  man  who  could  make 
or  break  his  paper's  reputation.  I  had  some  exciting  experiences 
when  looking  after  the  shipping  column  of  the  Southern  Cross 
during  the  years  1863,  1864  and  part  of  1865,  and  later  when 
I  was  on  the  New  Zealand  Herald  in  1865.  I  was  particularly 
well-fitted  for  a  post  offering  plenty  of  scope  of  initiative  and 
enterprise,  for  I  pulled  a  strong  oar,  having  been  a  successful 
amateur  oarsman  at  my  native  town  of  St.  Leonards-on-sea,  Eng- 
land, and  was  possessed  of  enthusiasm  and  resource  that  fre- 
quently brought  oiT  scoops  for  my  paper  and  caused  despair  in 
the  rival  offices.  The  news  from  all  parts  of  the  Dominion  and 
from  overseas  came  to  Auckland  either  by  sailing  vessel  or 
steamer,  and  while  the  regular  traders  from  Australia  generally 
brought  files  of  the  newspapers  for  the  shipping  reporters,  it 
was  the  chance  arrivals,  such  as  the  cattle  and  coal  boats  from  the 
ports  on  the  east  coast  of  Australia  that  kept  the  reporters  'on 
the  jump.'  There  was  also  a  spice  of  adventure  about  the  billet, 
and  more  than  once  there  was  a  chance  of  seeing  what  sort  of 
things  'Davy  Jones'  kept  in  that  locker  of  his.  (While  waiting 
down  the  Rangitoto  Channel  one  dark  thick  night  in  1864  for 
the  barque  'Kate,'  one  of  the  Circular  Saw  Line,  I  and  my  water- 
man saw  her  a  good  deal  closer  than  we  liked,  as  suddenly  out 
of  the  blackness  a  huge  hull  swept  by  our  little  boat — so  close 
we  could  have  jumped  aboard  if  she  had  not  been  booming  along 
with  the  piping  westerly  that  was  blowing,  and  if  we  had  not 
been  so  thoroughly  scared  at  our  narrow  escape.  On  another  oc- 
casion, when  I  was  out  meeting  the  brig  "Papeete"  from  Tahiti, 
(this  was  also  in  1864)  there  was  a  still  north  west  breeze  blow- 
ing and  it  did  not  look  too  safe  to  carry  out  the  usual  tactics  of 
hooking  on  to  the  lee  chains  and  scrambling  aboard.  But  news 
must  be  got  at  all  hazards,  and  the  boatman  hooked  on  to  the 
brig  which  was  then  going  at  a  good  pace,  and  the  reporter  made 
a  grab  for  a  hold.  'For  God's  sake  be  quick ;  I  can't  hold  on  any 
longer!'  cried  out  the  boatman,  and  before  the  reporter  could  get 
a  fair  hold  the  boat  shot  out  from  under  him.  He  could  not  climb 
up  and  he  dared  not  let  go.  It  was  blowing  half  a  gale  of  wind 
so  no  one  on  deck  heard  his  call,  and  it  was  not  until  the  brig 
tacked  ofif  Orakei  Bay  that  anyone  knew  of  his  presence  in  the 


Appendix  511 

chains,  and  by  the  time  he  was  hauled  on  board  he  was  just  about 
at  the  end  of  his  tether.  Mr.  Hart,  the  supercargo,  phed  the  half- 
drowned  newspaper  man  with  a  bosun's  nip  of  good  French 
brandy  and  put  him  to  bed  where  he  slept  for  three  or  four  hours. 
Naturally  after  hanging  on  for  such  a  long  time  in  the  chains  the 
reporter  had  a  nice  pair  of  bruised  hands  for  a  week  or  so. 

"As  an  instance  of  the  risks  the  'marine  reporters'  had  to 
run  in  bad  weather  an  adventure  of  Mr.  W.  Wilkinson  may  be 
recalled.  He  was  then  doing  the  shipping  column  on  the  South- 
ern Cross.  In  after  years  he  became  proprietor  of  the  Thames 
Advertiser  and  is  still  (1921)  living  in  Auckland.  Mr.  Wil- 
kinson was  boarding  the  ship  'Water  Nymph'  in  a  gale  of  wind, 
and  had  just  climbed  out  of  his  waterman's  boat  when  she  cap- 
sized, and  was  swept  away.  Captain  Babot  immediately  lowered 
one  of  his  lifeboats  and  managed  to  pick  up  one  of  the  unfor- 
tunate watermen  who  was  almost  gone  and  took  a  long  time  to 
resuscitate,  but  the  other  poor  fellow  was  drowned. 

"There  were  two  rival  news  agencies  in  the  early  days — the 
Grenville  Telegram  Company,  which  represented  Renter,  and 
Holt  and  McCarthy.  When  the  first  Honolulu,  San  Francisco,  and 
Auckland  service  was  established  in  1870  there  was  always  a  keen 
fight  between  the  Auckland  representatives  of  the  rival  agencies 
to  get  the  summaries  of  European  news  away  first  on  the  wires 
for  dispatch  to  the  Southern  centres  of  New  Zealand.  The 
first  steamer  in  the  service  was  the  Wonga  Wonga,  a  ten  knot 
boat  which  left  Sydney  on  March  12,  1870,  called  at  Auckland, 
went  up  to  Honolulu  where  she  connected  with  a  boat  from  San 
Francisco,  and  got  back  to  Auckland  on  May  10.  She  took 
sixteen  days  between  Honolulu  and  Auckland.  Old  newspaper 
men  will  recall  that  the  man  who  got  the  telegraph  wire  first 
kept  it  until  his  'copy'  was  all  through.  This  led  to  an  amusing 
ruse  on  my  part  as  representing  Holt  and  McCarthy." 

Shortly  after  Mr.  Brett  started  his  own  paper  Geddis  was 
put  onto  the  shipping.  It  so  happened  that  Geddis,  then  shipping 
reporter  on  the  Auckland  Star  and  now  editor  of  the  New  Zea- 
land Times  had  a  bit  of  hard  luck  in  getting  beaten  in  the  race 
to  the  wharf  from  the  Frisco  boat.  Mr.  Brett  watching  up  on 
a  point  of  vantage,  saw  Mr,  Geddis  coming  in  behind  the  Gren- 


578       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

ville  agent  (it  afterwards  turned  out  that  the  trouble  was  due 
to  a  broken  oar  blade)  immediately  rushed  to  the  Star  office  and 
got  hold  of  an  old  copy  of  the  European  Mail  and  Home  News, 
publications  which  made  a  feature  of  a  summary  of  the  news  up 
to  the  time  that  the  mail  left  England.  From  these  he  made  up 
the  first  sheet  of  news  ready  to  hand  in  to  the  telegraph  of- 
fice. The  rival  came  along  in  due  course,  and  looked  a  bit 
blank  when  he  saw  Holt  and  McCarthy's  man  at  the  door  before 
him.  'Mr.  Brett  hasn't  got  the  wires  this  time;  I  am  first!"  But 
the  operator,  who  in  those  days  also  acted  as  clerk,  refused  to 
enter  into  an  argument,  and  the  rival  reporter  said  he  would  go 
oiT  and  see  his  employer,  which  he  immediately  did.  This  was 
exactly  what  Holt  and  McCarthy's  representative  wanted,  and 
before  the  other  man  could  get  back  Mr.  Geddis  came  along  with 
the  summary,  which  was  made  up  in  San  Francisco,  and  the 
message  of  some  four  thousand  words  was  put  on  the  wires. 
Holt  and  McCarthy  once  more  keeping  up  their  reputation. 

"Various  ruses  were  adopted  for  beating  the  opposition  when 
mail  steamers  arrived.  At  first  I  used  to  have  relay  runners  on 
the  wharf  and  to  them  he  used  to  throw  my  messages  as  soon  as 
he  came  up  to  the  end  of  the  old  Queen  street  in  his  waterman's 
boat.  During  the  small-pox  scare  in  San  Francisco  the  mail 
steamers  were  compelled  to  drop  anchor  off  the  North  Head, 
about  four  miles  from  Auckland,  and  in  order  to  get  the  usual 
monthly  summary  of  news  to  the  telegraph  office  first  a  fresh 
scheme  had  to  be  evolved,  for  every  trip,  as  the  'enemy'  followed 
each  new  plan  of  the  Holt  and  McCarthy  representative  with 
monotonous  regularity.  After  having  swift  runners  on  the  wharf, 
the  next  dodge  was  to  station  a  horseman  on  some  convenient 
point  down  the  harbour  to  which  the  shipping  reporter  would 
row  as  soon  as  he  got  his  dispatches  from  the  mail  boat.  Another 
successful  plan  was  to  provide  the  purser  when  leaving  Auck- 
land with  a  sealed  can  made  like  a  buoy,  into  which  upon  the  re- 
turn trip  he  put  the  press  messages  and  quietly  dropped  it  over 
the  stern  of  the  steamer,  while  the  rival  pressman  was  in  his 
boat  alongside  the  steamer,  waiting  for  the  doctor's  permission 
to  get  aboard.  The  opposition  was  quite  mystified  when  it  saw 
Mr.  Brett's  watermen  putting  their  backs  into  it,  as  no  one  had 


Appendix  579 

been  allowed  aboard,  and  there  was  much  wrath  when  the  story 
of  the  'buoy  trick'  leaked  out.  The  steamers  running  at  the 
time  of  this  incident  were  the  Nevada  and  Nebraska,  three  thou- 
sand tonners,  with  huge  beam  engines  that  worked  through  the 
deck,  and  their  spreading  paddle  wheels  were  a  great  source  of 
bother  and  sometimes  danger  to  the  shipping  reporters  in  the 
light  watermen's  boats.  These  steamers  went  as  far  as  Hono- 
lulu, the  mails  being  brought  by  another  steamer  from  Frisco. 
The  Nevada,  the  first  of  the  side-wheelers  to  run  in  the  Hono- 
lulu-San Francisco-Auckland  service,  arrived  in  Auckland  on 
May  3,  1871.  One  of  the  'wins'  for  the  Holt  and  McCarthy  con- 
cern was  brought  about  by  enlisting  the  support  of  the  members 
of  a  local  rowing  club,  who  paddled  down  to  the  mail  steamer  in 
a  racing  whale-boat,  and  the  chagrin  of  the  Grenville  agent  was 
keen  when  he  saw  the  Holt  and  McCarthy  man  as  soon  as  he  had 
got  his  package,  pull  alongside  the  whaleboat,  jump  in  and  make 
for  the  wharf  at  racing  speed. 

"One  more  incident  when  a  bit  of  quick  thinking  told  ef- 
fectively occurred  after  1870,  by  which  time  the  telegraph  wire 
was  through  to  Tauranga  and  the  southern  messages  could  be 
put  in  at  that  office  if  it  suited.  As  he  was  pulling  ashore  from 
the  mailboat  Holt  and  McCarthy's  agent  spotted  the  cutter  Hero 
(Captain  Moller)  with  sails  up  ready  to  sail  for  Tauranga.  Meet- 
ing the  cutter's  skipper  on  the  old  Watermen's  steps  Mr.  Brett 
said  'Give  me  twenty  minutes  to  go  up  to  the  office  and  get  my 
vides  and  you  will  have  the  honour  of  sending  the  English  mail 
throughout  the  colony.'  Moller  said  he  could  not  afford  to  lose 
the  nice  westerly  that  was  blowing,  but  at  last  agreed  to  wait  a 
quarter  of  an  hour — 'not  a  minute  longer.'  Holt's  agent  got 
back  just  as  the  anchor  was  up.  The  Hero  lived  up  to  her  name 
and  reached  Tauranga  at  eight  o'clock  the  next  morning,  and 
Holt  and  McCarthy  had  a  forty-eight  hour  start  of  the  opposition 
which  sent  its  messages  by  the  steamer  to  Nelson — that  being  the 
port  to  which  there  was  a  regular  time  table  steamer  service." 

As  an  instance  of  the  need  for  a  "live"  man  on  the  early  New 
Zealand  newspapers  to  look  after  the  shipping  it  may  be  recalled 
that  on  one  occasion  in  the  sixties  the  "Alice  Cameron"  one  of 
the  fast  Circular  Saw  liners,  did  the  voyage  from  San  Francisco 


580       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

to  Auckland  in  thirty-one  days — which  still  stands  as  the  sailing 
record  between  the  two  ports — and  brought  down  English  news 
(in  the  American  papers)  which  was  later  than  the  latest  Eng- 
lish news  that  had  come  down  by  the  regular  mail  channels — 
via  Suez  and  Australia. 

New  Zealand's  regular  mails  from  Europe  used  to  come  via 
Suez  and  Sydney  after  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal,  and  the 
Dominion  also  had  a  service  which  used  the  Panama  Isthmus. 
In  1869  this  Panama  service  broke  down,  a  service  with  San 
Francisco  was  established  in  1870,  but  the  company  had  only  a 
short  life.  A  new  company  was  formed  at  the  end  of  that  year, 
and  started  in  1871,  with  the  Nevada  and  Nebraska.  Both  these 
services  ran  between  Auckland  and  Honolulu  where  they  tran- 
shipped mails  and  passengers  and  cargo  to  other  steamers  run- 
ning between  that  port  and  San  Francisco. 

An  adventure  of  quite  a  different  nature  is  worth  recording 
here:  At  this  time  the  telegraphic  regulations  allowed  a  paper 
to  "hold"  the  wires  till  it  gets  its  messages  through.  One  day 
there  arrived  at  Forsant  Street  a  mysterious  looking  craft,  the 
movements  of  which  gave  rise  to  much  speculation  among  the 
people  of  the  Bluff  (the  port  of  Invercargill).  What  was  going 
on  there  came  to  the  ears  of  this  deponent  who,  taking  advan- 
tage of  the  aforesaid  regulation  kept  the  operators  busily  em- 
ployed transmitting  scriptural  texts  until  the  business  of  the 
stranger  was  definitely  ascertained.  The  issue  of  the  evening 
paper  was  delayed  till  after  the  local  telegraph  office  was  closed 
(at  5  p.  m.)  and  then  the  public  were  startled  with  the  story  of 
how  the  ship  General  Grant,  laden  with  gold  shipped  at  Mel- 
bourne, Victoria,  had  been  set  by  adverse  currents  into  a  huge 
cave  at  the  Auckland  Islands  and  had  disappeared  with  the  loss 
of  all  the  gold  and  many  valuable  lives.  The  remnants  of  her 
crew  were  rescued  by  a  small  vessel,  named  the  Amherst,  I  think, 
and  brought  to  the  Bluff.  Next  morning's  paper,  not  being  able 
to  prove  the  story  for  itself,  characterised  the  publication  as  a 
"cock  and  bull  yarn,"  but,  of  course  was  obliged  to  make  the 
amends  when  the  facts  became  authentic.  Several  attempts  have 
since  been  made  to  rescue  the  sunken  gold,  but  all  ended  in  dis- 
mal failure. 


Appendix  581 

It  will  not  be  without  interest  if  I  proceed  to  outline  how 
news — foreign  and  domestic — is  gathered  for  and  distributed 
among  the  newspapers  of  the  Dominion.  In  the  early  seventies 
there  were  two  rival  press  agencies,  as  explained  by  Mr.  Brett. 
The  one  was  owned  by  Holt  and  McCarthy,  the  other  by  the 
Grenville  Company.  Then  at  the  end  of  1878  representatives  of 
the  four  principal  dailies  met  in  Dunedin  and  decided  to  form  a 
co-operative  organization  that  would  exchange  domestic  news, 
and  arrange  for  the  supply  to  its  constituent  members  of  European 
and  Australian  intelligence.  Thirty  papers  at  once  joined,  and 
Mr.  E.  T.  Gillon,  of  the  Evening  Post  was  made  first  manager. 
One  of  the  articles  of  association  enacted  that  only  one  journal  in 
the  same  town  should  belong  to  the  association,  the  object  being,  of 
course,  to  crush  out  rival  journals.  Papers  of  the  standing  of  the 
Evening  Post  (Wellington),  Press  (Christchurch),  Star  (Auck- 
land), and  Star,  (Dunedin)  would  not  for  a  moment  submit  to 
despotism  of  that  kind,  and  an  opposition  press  association  was  the 
immediate  outcome.  Not  only  did  they  inaugurate  their  own  serv- 
ice, but  were  the  first  to  conclude  arrangements  for  an  independent 
supply  of  foreign  news,  since  Renter  had  already  been  "nabbed"  by 
the  other  combination.  Necessarily  the  rivalry  thus  engendered 
was  responsible  for  a  good  deal  of  overlapping  and  entailed  much 
wasteful  expenditure.  Negotiations  for  amalgamation  were  set 
afoot,  and  these  resulted  in  the  establishment  in  1889  of  the  New 
Zealand  Press  Association,  which  has  remained  ever  since  the 
sole  supplier  and  distributor  of  all  domestic  and  foreign  news. 
The  area  of  its  operations  has  in  the  interval  been  much  ex- 
tended, and  it  has  its  own  office  in  Sydney,  where  an  experienced 
English  pressman  collects  and  culls  from  all  the  messages  re- 
ceived through  the  media  of  the  Argus-Sydney  Morning  Herald 
combination,  the  Sydney  Sun's  special  London  service,  the  Lon- 
don Times  special  cables.  We  likewise  receive  at  Norfolk  Island 
direct  messages  from  various  foreign  sources,  including  )the 
United  States.  All  messages  sent  over  the  Pacific  cable  are  re- 
ceived at  Doubtless  Bay  (Auckland)  and  then  retransmitted  at 
specified  times  to  the  morning  and  evening  papers.  The  con- 
stitution of  the  organization  has  also  been  materially  altered,  io- 
asmuch  as  non-shareholders    (i.   e.  papers  that  do  not   rank  as 


582       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

share  owners)  have  a  potential  voice  in  the  managements;  the 
board  of  directors  now  comprises  eight,  of  whom  two  specially 
represent  the  country  press ;  and  every  paper  of  any  consequence 
is  now  either  a  shareholder  or  a  contributing  member.  When  the 
first  organization  was  started  it  was  managed  by  Mr.  Gillon  with 
one  assistant;  the  present  manager  is  Mr.  W.  A.  Atack  who 
employs  a  staff  of  nine.  Though  complaint  is  often  made  by 
the  visitor  that  the  New  Zealand  papers  exhibit  an  oppressive 
sameness  about  their  cabled  intelligence,  it  must  be  acknowledged 
by  every  impartial  critic  that  the  news  is  well-displayed  without 
striving  for  effect,  that  it  is  fair  and  dependable,  and  that  when- 
ever comment  is  added  that  is  done  in  a  most  impartial  spirit. 
Though  since  the  war  the  cable  charges  have  been  steadily  ad- 
vanced the  directors  of  our  Press  Association  have  not  thought  it 
prudent  to  curtail  the  supply,  which  has  grown  apace,  though 
some  responsible  directors  of  our  press  are  disposed  to  complain 
of  the  undue  prominence  given  to  prize  fights,  divorce  proceed- 
ings, and  other  unsavory  intelligence.  In  1913  more  than  half  a 
million  words,  representing  more  than  a  million  when  the  "skele- 
ton" was  extended  into  the  ordinary  language  which  a  "sub," 
blessed  with  imagination  knows  so  well  how  to  display  to  the  ut- 
most advantage,  were  sent  over  the  cables  and  I  am  well  within 
the  mark  when  I  say  that  during  the  most  exacting  periods  of 
the  war  the  number  of  cabled  words  was  between  six  hundred 
thousand  and  seven  hundred  thousand. 

One  of  the  most  serious  of  the  many  problems  now  confront- 
ing the  newspaper  proprietors  of  New  Zealand  is  how  best  to 
ensure  an  adequate  and  dependable  stock  of  newsprint.  Like 
most  countries  we  were  desperately  hard  pushed  at  times  during 
the  war  to  keep  pace  with  demands.  In  some  quarters  it  was  a 
hand-to-mouth  existence,  and  absolute  breakdown  was  alone 
prevented  by  some  papers  that  were  fortunate  to  have  obtained 
good  stocks  coming  to  the  assistance  of  their  less  fortunate  breth- 
ren. Mr.  P.  Selig,  manager  of  the  Christchurch  Press  Company, 
has  been  good  enough  to  forward  to  me  a  short  narrative  of  the 
steps  that  were  taken  to  prevent  a  future  paper  famine,  and  you 
will  hear  with  regret,  I  am  sure,  that  the  efforts  of  those  who  are 
co-operating  with  him  in  this  most  important  matter  ended  in  dis- 
mal failure.    He  writes: 


Appendix  583 

"A  syndicate,  of  which  I  was  a  member,  took  up  from  the 
Government  leases  of  timber  reserves  on  the  West  Coast  of  the 
South  Island.  After  spending  a  considerable  sum  of  money  in 
procuring  reports  from  English  and  other  experts  on  the  reserves. 
location,  water  power,  etc.,  and  estimates  for  the  erection  of  mills 
and  the  necessary  machinery  for  the  production  of  'newsprint,' 
we  sent  abroad  a  shipment  of  the  different  woods  from  the  re- 
serve in  charge  of  a  representative.  Under  his  supervision  the 
timber  was  made  into  'newsprint'  of  better  quality  than  has  been 
imported  into  this  Dominion.  The  various  timbers  were  therefore 
proved  suitable  for  pulping  for  newsprint. 

"This  was  just  prior  to  the  war,  when  the  flotation  of  a  com- 
pany with  two  hundred  thousand  pounds  capital  was  decided 
upon.  The  war  prevented  this  enterprise  from  being  launched. 
After  the  war,  machinery  had  gone  up  to  such  an  enormous  price 
that  made  necessary  a  capital  that  was  not  easily  obtainable.  Then 
we  reached  the  stage  when  the  money  market,  owing  to  the  latest 
moratorium  of  the  Government  redeposits,  the  stoppage  of  ad- 
vances by  the  banks,  and  the  drop  in  the  price  of  wool  and  meat, 
was  very  difficul*-.  There  being  no  chance  of  raising  the  neces- 
sary capital,  and  he  leases  having  expired,  it  was  decided  not  to 
renew  and  the  New  Zealand  Pulp  and  Wood  Co.  went  into  liquida- 
tion. 

"It  has  been  proved  there  are  plenty  of  suitable  timber  on  the 
West  Coast  of  the  South  Island  for  the  manufacture  for  many 
years  of  a  fine  quality  of  newsprint,  which  before  the  war  could 
have  been  produced  at  a  cost  to  profitably  sell  below  the  price 
being  paid  for  imported  paper." 

Had  not  Mr.  Easten  (general  manager  of  the  Otago  Daily 
Times  Company)  not  been  obliged  by  untoward  circumstances  to 
leave  Honolulu  before  the  real  business  of  the  Congress  began 
he  would  have  told  you  that  during  the  war  period  the  average 
cost  to  land  newsprint  in  New  Zealand  was  sixty-seven  and  ten 
one-hundredths  pounds  per  ton,  and  that  today  it  remains  at  the 
extravagant  figure  of  thirty-two  pounds. 

When  it  was  feared  that  the  supply  would  break  down,  by 
reason  of  the  difficulty  in  procuring  "bottoms,"  from  Canada 
the  proprietors  of  the  Mataura  paper  mills   (situated  in  South- 


584       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

land)  contracted  to  supply  twenty-five  tons  of  newsprint  for 
the  Dunedin  weekly.  They  were  successful  in  turning  out  a 
good  white  paper,  which  printed  well,  but  it  was  far  too  heavy  in 
substance  for  use  on  rotary  machines.  But  the  Witness  Com- 
pany liked  the  product  so  much  that  they  repeated  two  years  later 
the  order  for  twenty-five  tons,  but  it  took  the  paper  manufacturer 
so  long  to  execute  this  second  order  that  it  was  obliged  to  go 
out  and  search  for  other  lines,  and  to  cancel  the  newsprint  order. 
The  Mataura  paper  mill  then  went  in  for  the  manufacture  of  art 
papers  and  brown  wrapping  paper,  which  paid  it  better  to  make, 
seeing  that  there  was  an  acute  shortage  of  all  kinds  of  paper 
needed  by  the  retailer.  There  are  in  New  Zealand  three  mills 
capable  of  supplying  such  requirements,  i.  e.,  the  New  Zealand 
paper  mill's  main  factory  at  the  Woodhaugh  (Dunedin)  and  a 
branch  factory  at  Riverhead,  near  Auckland ;  also  the  Mataura 
mill — the  largest  of  them  all — near  Gore  (Southland).  It  is 
worthy  of  passing  remark  that  so  long  ago  as  1869  this  same  mill 
at  Woodhaugh  turned  out  a  newsprint,  on  which  it  was  intended 
that  the  Duke  of  Edinburgh,  then  paying  an  ofificial  visit  to  Dune- 
din, should  print  that  day's  issue  of  the  Star  on  a  new  wharfdale 
imported  by  the  then  proprietor.  But  the  Duke  forgot  his  ap- 
pointment, and  the  honor  passed  to  a  favorite  actress  of  that  day, 
who  started  the  machine  with  the  orthodox  baptismal  rites.  The 
paper  was  said  to  be  of  excellent  feature  and  of  good  color.  It 
was  made  from  phorimium  tenax,  a  native  plant,  which  is  admir- 
ably adapted  and  largely  used  for  rope  making. 

The  newspaper  proprietors  are  now  taking  concerted  action 
to  obviate  any  recurrence  of  the  troubles  of  the  past  few  years, 
and  to  that  end  propose  to  establish  depots  in  some  central  places, 
or  a  single  depot  in  one  of  the  main  centers  of  population  where 
a  full  six  months  supply  of  newsprint  for  all  of  the  newspapers 
of  New  Zealand  will  be  stored. 

Another  organization  that  has  considerable  influence  in  de- 
termining the  attitude  of  the  proprietors  towards  the  various  ac- 
tivities that  are  more  or  less  remotely  associated  with  the  press  is 
another  attempt  at  co-operation.  The  Newspapers  Proprietors' 
Association,  which  was  founded  in  1898  and  is  also  incorporated, 
deals  almost  exclusively  with  business  issues  and  policies.    It  has 


Appendix  585 

gradually  grown  in  strength  and  influence  until  it  is  now  regarded 
as  the  official  mouthpiece  of  the  trade,  and  as  such  deals  directly 
with  the  administration  and  appoints  representatives  to  appear 
before  the  Conciliation  tribunal  and  the  Arbitration  Court  when- 
ever a  dispute  arises  between  the  proprietors  and  any  section  of 
their  employees.  In  1920  the  organization  was  reconstructed ;  it 
has  transferred  its  headquarters  to  the  capital  where  it  has  a  resi- 
dent secretary.  At  the  time  of  penning  this  article  seventy  news- 
papers have  enrolled  under  the  banner  of  the  Newspaper  Pro- 
prietors' Association,  and  one  is  amply  justified  in  saying  that 
all  the  principal  papers  in  our  Dominion  belong  to  this  organiza- 
tion, while  it  is  confidently  anticipated  that  the  number  will  in- 
crease as  the  advantages  of  combination  for  mutual  protection  are 
made  manifest.  One  of  the  first  steps  taken  by  the  new  organiza- 
tion was  to  call  for  tenders  for  the  bulk  supply  of  all  the  news- 
print required  by  the  papers  of  the  Dominion  during  1922.  These 
tenders  were  due  at  the  end  of  September  last,  and  when  I  left 
Wellington  I  learned  from  the  association's  secretary  (Mr.  L.  J. 
Berry)  that  there  was  already  evidence  of  keen  competition  among 
the  newsprint  manufacturers  and  it  is  hoped  that  a  satisfactory 
contract  will  be  the  outcome.  The  association  accredits  certain 
advertising  agencies  which  as  a  condition  precedent  must  sub- 
scribe to  a  definite  set  of  rules  governing  their  acts  or  contracts. 
These  agencies  are  paid  by  commission  on  all  new  business  they 
place  with  the  several  newspapers,  but  no  commission  is  paid 
for  any  business  received  through  agencies  other  than  the  officially 
recognized  ones. 

On  January  1,  1921,  there  were  two  hundred  and  forty-nine 
newspapers  and  magazines  on  the  postoffice  register  but  many  of 
these  are  small  monthlies.  But  there  were  sixty-one  dailies,  and 
of  these  forty-one  are  on  the  membership  roll  of  the  association. 
The  remaining  members  include  seven  tri-weeklies.  seven  bi- 
weeklies, eleven  weeklies  and  five  monthlies.  It  should  be  added 
that  the  annual  meetings  of  the  Press  Association,  the  Newspaper 
Proprietors',  the  Empire  Press  Union,  and  the  Master  Printers' 
Association,  are  held  in  February,  when  office  bearers  are  elected, 
and  general  business  transacted.  In  the  past  these  meetings  have 
been  peripatetic,  the  feeling  being  that  the  social  as  well  as  the 


586       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

business  side  of  the  newspaper  and  printing  trades  should  be  cul- 
tivated, but  the  disposition  is  growing  to  make  the  capital  city 
the  general  rendezvous. 

I  will  lay  on  the  table,  for  the  benefit  of  any  who  may  feel 
interested,  the  latest  available  copy  of  our  "Postal  Guide,"  which 
supplies  detailed  information  relating  to  the  charges  for  cable  and 
other  news  transmitted  to  the  press ;  the  rates  of  postage ;  the 
list  of  newspapers  published  in  the  Dominion,  and  the  member- 
ship of  the  Newspaper  Proprietors'  Association,  etc. 

In  bringing  to  a  close  this  necessarily  discursive  paper,  I  would 
like  to  say  that  nothing  has  given  so  much  unallowed  joy  as  the 
virile,  outspoken  and  wise  criticism  of  modern  journalism  heard 
from  the  lips  of  Mrs.  Warren  (who  has  proved  herself  to  be  not 
only  a  forcible  speaker  but  the  embodiment  of  sound,  common 
sense),  Publisher  H.  L.  Bridgman  (of  the  Brooklyn  Standard 
Union)  and  the  veteran  Frank  Glass  (of  Birmingham,  Alabama). 
The  two  last  named,  who  received  their  professional  training  in 
the  widest  and  best  of  all  universities,  that  of  the  big  world  it- 
self, are  journalists  of  the  old  school,  who  have  a  natural  dis- 
taste for  screeching  head  lines,  for  sensationalism  of  all  kinds, 
and  for  adventitious  aids  to  make  a  paper  sell.  They  want  to 
see,  as  do  the  majority  of  us,  I  trust,  the  newspaper  of  tomorrow 
absolutely  free  from  suggestiveness,  the  purveyor  of  clean,  whole- 
some, reliable  intelligence  and  the  creator  of  a  moral  code  which 
we  shall  live  up  to  ourselves,  instead  of  cultivating,  as  unfor- 
tunately happens  in  too  many  instances,  a  commercialism  that  is 
calculated  to  camouflage  the  truth.  When  the  press  rises  to  the 
full  height  of  its  great  mission  as  the  foremost  factor  in  formu- 
lating a  public  opinion  that  shall  be  broadly  based  on  the  trinity 
of  truthfulness,  impartiality,  and  honesty  of  purpose,  it  may  with 
justice  claim  (and  only  then)  to  be  the  real  educator  of  the 
peoples  in  all  the  civilised  countries  of  the  world.  Is  not  that  a 
goal  worth  striving  for?  Like  a  goodly  number  of  my  col- 
leagues, by  whom  I  am  surrounded  today,  I  have  enlisted  in  the 
big  army  of  emeritus  journalists — men  and  women  who  in  their 
day  and  generation  earnestly  and  faithfully  worked  for  the 
realization  of  those  ideals  that  were  most  dear  to  our  hearts 
when  we  possessed  the  vigorous  mind  and  the  healthy  body  so 


Appendix  587 

necessary  to  the  accomplishment  of  our  self-appointed  tasks. 
Many  of  those  aims  yet  await  attainment,  but  none  of  them  is  be- 
yond accomplishment  if  the  desire  to  perform  service  burns  as 
ardently  in  the  breasts  of  those  who  will  come  after  us  as  it 
did  in  those  of  the  pioneers  in  this  great  upward  and  onward 
movement.  Richelieu  is  credited  with  saying  that  "there  is  no 
such  word  in  the  lexicon  of  youth  as  fail!"  That  is  a  funda- 
mental truth,  as  strong  as  any  precept  to  be  found  in  Holy  Writ. 
Let  it  then  inspire  you  of  the  younger  generation  of  journalists 
to  become  like  the  Crusaders  of  old  the  standard-bearers  of  a 
Cross  of  Infinite  Hope  that  will  bring  in  its  trail  the  blessings  of 
peace,  prosperity,  and  plentitude  wherever  the  benign  influence 
of  an  inspirational,  honest,  and  humanitarian  press  can  make  it- 
self felt. 

Among  the  many  great  intellects  that  have  shaped  the  policies 
of  the  newspapers  of  the  United  States  that  I  am  most  familiar 
with  there  is  no  one  for  whom  we  men  of  British  descent  have 
a  more  profound  respect  than  your  Grand  Old  Man — Henry  Wat- 
terson,  editor-in-chief  of  the  Louisville  Courier-Journal.  We 
know  and  admire  him  for  the  great  courage  with  which  he  ex- 
presses his  opinions ;  we  recognize  in  him  those  qualities  of  mind 
and  heart  that  make  him  a  very  solon  among  his  fellows ;  and  we 
revere  him  for  the  noble  stand  he  took  when  after  the  Lusitania 
sinking,  which  was  a  foul  outrage  on  all  humanity,  your  country 
hesitated  about  ranging  herself,  as  happily  she  ultimately  did. 
on  the  side  of  the  forces  that  were  fighting  to  maintain  the  sacred 
cause  of  our  common  civilization.  No  finer  lay-sermon  was  ever 
preached,  in  my  humble  judgment,  than  Colonel  Watterson  de- 
livered to  the  pressmen  of  Canada  in  convention  assembled  re- 
cently, and  as  being  germane  to  the  debate  we  have  listened  to 
in  this  Congress  I  make  no  apology  for  asking  you  to  let  sink 
deeply  into  your  inmost  heart  the  pearls  of  wisdom  that  fell 
from  the  lips  of  one  who,  conscious  that  his  life's  labors  are 
well  nigh  ended,  has  left  to  those  who  will  evolve  the  newspaper 
policies  of  the  future  a  magnificent  legacy  of  perfected  counsel. 
And  what  the  Colonel  begged  of  his  Canadian  friends  to  translate 
into  efifective  action  I  beseech  you  in  the  last  utterance  that  hu- 
manly  speaking  it  will  be  my  privilege  to   deliver  to  a   Press 


588       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

Congress  of  the  World  to  make  it  your  slogan  of  future  duty.  I 
would  like  to  see  these  sententious  words  engraved  on  a  tablet, 
which  should  occupy  a  place  of  honor  in  the  editorial  sanctum  of 
every  newspaper  in  every  land : 

"The  newspaper  is  the  history  of  yesterday.  It  is  made  to 
sell  assuredly,  but  it  is  not  a  commodity  like  drygoods,  like  pork 
and  beans,  or  hardware,  or  cutlery.  It  may  not  care  to  have  any 
opinions;  but,  in  case  it  does,  it  should  seek  and  aim  to  be  a 
keeper  of  the  Public  Conscience,  an  example  and  counsellor,  nor  a 
corner  grocery  man — to  be  level  of  head  and  kindly  of  heart, 
upright  and  elevated,  always  sincere  and  truthful,  avoiding  as  it 
would  avoid  a  pestilence  or  a  famine  the  character  of  a  scold. 
More  and  more  will  newspaper  owners  and  makers  discern  that 
integrity  and  cleanliness  will  pay  the  best  dividends.  The  scandal- 
monger will,  in  time,  be  relegated  to  the  category  of  the  unpros- 
perous  as  well  as  the  disreputable,  and  the  detective  be  driven 
out  of  the  newspaper  service,  where  he  should  have  no  place,  to 
the  company  of  the  police,  where  he  properly  belongs.  Manly 
conduct  and  aspiration  should  be  and  is  the  rule — the  brutal  and 
vulgar  be  the  exception — and  the  journalistic  brand  should  be  no 
less  accepted  and  honorable  than  that  of  medicine,  divinity,  and 
jurisprudence." 


DUTCH  JOURNALISM 


By  W.  N.  Van  Der  Hout, 

Honorary  Secretary,  The  Association  of  Dutch  Journalists,  The 
Hag  we,  Holland. 


Comparing  the  Dutch  daily  papers  with  those  of  other  coun- 
tries, especially  France,  England  and  America,  we  are  at  once 
aware  of  a  striking  contrast.  As  we  immediately  observe,  our 
dailies  are  much  more  sober  in  appearance  in  consequence  of  the 
very  scant  use  of  conspicuous  headlines.    Some  efforts  by  the 


Appendix  589 

newspaper  press  to  propagate  this  use  have  failed.  The  Dutch 
reader  is  not  to  be  enticed  by  an  abundance  of  sensational  head- 
ings. The  contents  of  the  Dutch  dailies  are  sober  and  to  the 
point,  but  consequently  rather  tedious  and  deep.  The  Dutch  na- 
ture is  mirrored  in  the  character  of  the  Dutch  press.  Patriarchal 
geniality,  supported  by  old-fashioned  orthodox  religiousness  or 
its  reminiscence  is  prevalent  and  it  is  typically  characteristic  that 
many  clergymen  or  former  clergymen  take  to  the  press.  They 
are  the  very  last  people  in  the  world  to  exhilarate  the  newspaper- 
reading,  but  rather  add  to  the  dullness  of  the  press. 

We  distinguish  here  neutral  from  political  papers.  The  latter 
represent  a  political  party,  which  but  too  often  is  connected  with 
a  religious  sect;  the  former  scrupulously  abstain  from  all  po- 
litical and  religious  quarreling.  Yet  the  difference  is  not  so  very 
great  as  their  partiality  is  emphasised  only  in  the  leading  articles 
which  moreover  are  few.  In  the  intelligence  part  gi^eat  uni- 
formity exists  in  all  the  papers,  obviously  consequent  on  the  fact 
that  they  get  their  information  from  the  same  sources.  For 
foreign  intelligence  there  are  Renter,  Havas,  Wolff,  and  other 
general  offices ;  for  home  intelligence  two  correspondence  bu- 
reaus are  working,  which  for  the  bigger  newspapers  are  supple- 
mented by  local  correspondents,  who,  however,  as  a  rule  send  their 
intelligence  to  several  papers  and  thus  form  small  offices  by 
themselves. 

Only  some  of  the  greatest  newspapers  can  afford  correspond- 
ents of  their  own  in  the  capitals  at  home  and  abroad.  The 
small  ones  often  combine  and  keep  a  correspondent  among  them. 
This  co-operation  cannot  be  avoided,  because  in  a  small  country 
the  papers  have  only  a  small  sale.  Anyhow  this  non-ideal  prin- 
ciple is  to  be  preferred  to  the  cutting-and-copying-system  which 
also  is  still  yielding  an  existence  to  many  smaller  papers. 

The  immediate  result  of  these  circumstances  is  that  the  num- 
ber of  journalists  in  Holland  is  small.  The  number  of  news- 
papers amounts  to  eighty-two,  the  number  of  journalists  to  about 
five  hundred,  only  three  dailies  are  employing  more  than  thirty 
journalists,  two  about  twenty  and  the  rest  all  remain  under  ten, 
while  sixty  even  have  only  five  or  less.  Besides  there  is  a  num- 
ber of  papers  that  appear  twice  or  three  times  a  week.     They 


590       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

are  doing  mostly  without  a  regular  journalist:  a  school-teacher, 
an  official  or  the  owner  himself  fills  up  the  papers  for  the  greater 
part  with  copied  stuff.  Of  the  eighty-two  dailies  some  thirty 
show  a  certain  political  colour ;  the  rest  are  neutral.  This  neutral- 
ity must  not  be  underrated,  for  these  papers  confine  themselves 
to  news  and  an  impartial  summary  of  what  happens  in  parlia- 
ment and  town-councils.  They  avoid  any  subject  of  quarreling 
as  much  as  they  can. 

Nine  papers  only  have  an  evening  and  a  morning  issue,  while 
one  paper  has  merely  a  morning — the  rest  only  an  evening — edi- 
tion. 

We  can  honestly  declare  that  journalism  here  is  in  a  very 
sound  condition.  Cases  of  excessive  partiality,  of  bribing,  of  love 
of  sensation,  of  being  prejudiced,  do  not  appear.  This  showed 
most  clearly  during  the  years  of  European  War.  One  paper  only 
positively  sided  with  a  certain  group  of  belligerents,  the  others  all 
stuck  to  the  Dutch,  i.  e.,  neutral  standpoint. 

The  commercial  and  intellectual  part  of  the  daily  papers  are 
strictly  kept  apart.  An  occasional  effort  to  mix  them  up  in- 
variably meets  with  disapproval  and  is  happily  not  imitated.  The 
press  is  scrupulous  in  inserting  news  of  a  commercial  tendency 
and  merely  of  an  odd  paper  it  may  be  said  that  the  mercantile 
leading  is  exceeding  the  limits  and  trying  too  hard  to  cultivate 
the  intellectual  side  for  the  good  of  the  commercial  part.  But 
those  in  my  opinion  pernicious  endeavors  are  still  far  from  being 
prevalent. 

The  greater  number  of  the  newspapers  belongs  to  a  com- 
pany limited  which  has  to  appoint  a  manager  for  the  commercial 
and  a  head-editor  for  the  intellectual  part.  Another  number — 
the  smaller  papers — is  private  property.  With  the  latter  business 
of  course  comes  first.  The  owner  will  avoid  everything  that 
might  make  him  suffer  loss.  The  judgment  of  the  press,  how- 
ever, causes  this  to  remain  within  allowable  limits. 

Sometimes  the  functions  of  head-editor  and  manager  happen 
to  be  united  in  one  person.  This  is  not  a  happy  choice  of  system 
and  as  far  as  they  belong  to  the  employers'  union  those  double 
functionaries  have  been  shut  out  by  the  journalists  from  their 
society.     This  organization   of   managers   and   owners   which   is 


Appendix  591 

wrongly  calling  itself  "The  Netherland  Newspaper  Press"  in- 
cludes nearly  all  managers  and  owners.  Besides  there  is  the 
"Journalistenbring"  to  which  organization  of  the  press  the  pres- 
ent writer  is  much  honored  to  be  secretary.  With  this  general 
organization  a  small  one  of  Roman  Catholic  members  is  always 
co-operating  on  a  friendly  footing. 

Shut  out  by  the  "Bring"  and  discontented  that  they  were  al- 
lowed no  more  the  sunny  heights  of  journalism,  some  head-edi- 
tors-managers established  an  organization  of  their  own  to  which 
they  also  admitted  the  managers  of  smaller  papers  where  there 
is  no  head-editor  and  who  practically  are  hardly  more  than  ad- 
ministrators. The  barrier  between  the  intellectual  and  the  com- 
mercial part  is  thus  broken  down.  The  rigorously  upheld  separa- 
tion is  fairly  gone.  An  occasional  swell-head  editor's  feather  in 
a  poor  manager's  cap  is  looking  too  ridiculous  though  to  harm 
the  general  respectability  of  the  journalists'  class. 

Owing  to  the  small  number  of  the  editorial  staffs  the  jour- 
nalists for  the  smaller  papers  do  a  hundred  odd  jobs.  With  the 
greater  ones  of  course  they  are  specialized.  For  the  home,  for- 
eign, art,  sport,  and  financial  part  special  journalists  are  work- 
ing. Next  come  the  reporters  who  do  not  cover  such  a  big  field 
of  labor,  as  the  intelligence  offices  are  already  furnishing  much. 

The  head  of  the  editorial  staff  is  the  head-editor ;  the  system 
of  sub-editor  or  secretary  to  the  editor,  who  has  to  manage  the 
daily  cares  and  troubles,  e.  g.,  the  keeping  in  touch  with  the  com- 
positors room,  the  correspondence  with  the  subscribers,  etc.,  is 
not  known  here.  On  the  smaller  papers  the  head-editor  has  to  do 
a  greater  share  of  the  daily  writing  and  is  thus  more  filling  up  the 
place  of  first  editor.  On  the  greater  ones  this  falls  to  the  part  of 
the  heads  of  sections,  while  the  head-editor  writes  leading  ar- 
ticles only.  With  very  few  exceptions  the  newspapers  are  not 
great  enough  to  stand  in  need  of  a  special  head-editor  and  so  a 
great  many  of  them  happen  to  be  serving  as  a  sort  of  flag  flying 
from  the  paper's  pinnacle.  Also  many  of  them  are  not  recruited 
for  being  an  authority  or  having  a  title.  On  the  political  papers 
a  politician-to-be  or  a  politician-that-was  often  has  the  leading. 

The  "color"  of  the  paper  is  shown  only  in  the  leading-articles 
and  the  Parliament  and  Town-Council   Summaries.     This  part 


592       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

and  the  intelligence  part  are  strictly  kept  apart.  Thus  consider- 
ing the  small  extent  of  the  dailies  it  would  be  quite  rational  that 
the  leading  of  political  matters  was  in  one  hand  and  that  an  all- 
round  journalist  would  see  to  the  rest.  This  would  make  the 
paper  less  top-heavy  as  is  often  the  case  now.  Evidently  one 
head-editor  cannot  be  supposed  to  be  good  at  everything,  There- 
fore he  is  mostly  calling  in  the  aid  of  experts  outside  the  papers 
and  anonymity,  the  great  evil  of  journalism,  covers  up  the  as- 
sistance. The  story  of  "le  journal  c'est  un  monsieur"  comes  in 
where  the  reality  of  many-sided  information  is  lost  sight  of. 
Small  wonder  that  the  Dutch  editors  stand  up  for  anonymity. 
With  sophistries  about  "the  paper  being  one"  the  wrong  system 
is  defended.  In  reality  this  being  one  is  very  problematic,  the 
more  so  where  the  extent  of  the  papers  is  greater,  its  number  of 
co-operators  vaster ;  anonymity  supports  the  top-heavy  leading. 
As  a  rule  the  foreign  part  in  the  Dutch  papers  is  well  taken  care 
of,  the  intelligence  service  works  well,  foreign  papers  are  care- 
fully perused,  the  art  of  translating  is  flourishing  and  the  leaders 
possess  a  profound  knowledge  of  foreign  affairs.  In  treating 
them  they  are  given  much  more  free  scope  than  their  colleagues 
for  the  home  affairs.  Nor  is  a  hurry  "to  be  up"  deemed  neces- 
sary. It  is  a  pity  that  the  "telegrams"  cannot  more  properly  be 
worked  out.  They  are  chaotically  put  together  under  one  head, 
bearing  the  peculiar  title  of  "telegrammen,"  peculiar  in  that  the 
way  the  information  is  got  is  chosen  as  a  title.  There  may  have 
been  sense  in  it  in  times  when  a  telegram  was  an  extraordinary 
way  of  corresponding;  now  that  everyone  is  familiar  with  wires 
this  title  has  fairly  lost  its  psychological  effect. 

To  the  neutral  papers  foreign  affairs  regularly  provide  the 
right  stuff  for  leading  articles.  There  one  need  not  be  afraid  to 
touch  upon  painful  subjects  which  can  easily  be  the  matter  when 
treating  home  affairs.  Home  intelligence  as  a  rule  is  less  got 
up  than  put  together.  What  is  sent  the  intelligence-offices,  what 
is  supplied  by  private  correspondents  and  reporters  is  collected 
and  arranged.  Even  there  much  is  more  simply  communicatory 
than  a  regular  report.  Truth  to  tell  all  the  newspapers  have  tried 
to  give  something  more  and  by  many  journalists  interesting  work 
has  been  done  in  the  general  social  line.    A  general,  clear  picture 


Appendix  593 

of  social  life  is  not  given  by  the  papers.  Club-life,  the  struggle 
in  the  different  classes,  is  not  mirrored  in  them.  The  professional 
papers  are  accomplishing  this  task  better,  but  only  very  little  of 
the  leading  articles  is  taken  from  them  by  the  dailies.  Again  the 
editorial  staffs  are  too  small  to  write  things  out  more  properly 
and  the  office- journalists  cannot  possibly  be  equal  to  such  a 
many-sided  task  as  is  left  to  them.  Only  a  few  heads  can  boast 
a  specialist  of  their  own:  art,  sport  and  finance.  The  first  is 
limited  to  critique  of  the  stage,  music,  literature  and  plastic  arts ; 
the  second,  in  my  opinion,  is  much  too  ample  and  not  in  keep- 
ing with  the  value  of  sport.  Under  this  head  many  penny-a-liners 
are  working  and  the  reports  of  the  matches  are  marked  by  bad 
style  and  extravagant  praise. 

Personally  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  the  papers  are  too  much 
given  to  criticism,  too  little  didactic ;  too  much  neutrally  de- 
scriptive ;  too  much  individually  critical  on  one  side ;  too  little 
instructive  and  too  little  informatory  on  the  other.  A  daily  should 
be  an  intellectual  instrument,  a  pedagogical  institution  by  which 
a  nation  is  continually  being  educated  and  civilized. 

In  the  Netherlands  it  has  always  been  a  great  fault  of  the 
papers  that  they  pay  their  journalists  badly.  The  journalistic 
career  never  was  attractive,  because  only  to  very  few  it  could 
become  of  any  importance.  Toward  the  intellectual  work  done 
by  the  journalists  the  notorious  mistake  was  made  of  "giving  too 
little  and  asking  too  much."  Up  to  this  day  many  journalists' 
fees  do  not  surpass  those  of  the  compositors.  Indeed  much 
has  been  changed  for  the  better  since  1918,  owing  to  the  action 
of  the  "Journalistenbring,"  but  what  is  necessary  has  not  nearly 
been  attained  yet  by  all  the  papers.  There  is  an  unavoidable 
mutual  connection  between  the  spiritual  elevation  and  the  ma- 
terial reward.  He  that  will  create  must  be  in  high  spirits,  a  poet 
once  sung;  he  that  is  weighed  down  by  cares  cannot  wholly  de- 
velop his  creative  power.  Beautiful  theories  may  be  set  up  of 
vocation  and  satisfaction  in  one's  labor,  if  it  is  only  granted 
that  a  journalist's  calling  is  very  many-sided  and  may  be  followed 
in  other  work  also.  Journalism  will  attract  even  more  people 
that  feel  the  call  if  the  material  satisfaction  is  greater. 

Journalism  and  the  press  are  no  business  of  the  state.     There 

38 


594       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

is  complete  freedom  of  expressing  one's  thoughts  apart  from 
every  one's  responsibility  toward  the  law.  From  experience  this 
freedom  has  proved  to  be  absolutely  justified;  seldom  if  ever  it 
is  misused ;  law-suits  of  offence  hardly  ever  appear.  Generally 
speaking  the  government  does  not  always  show  yet  a  clear  un- 
derstanding of  the  importance  of  publicity. 

Much  depends  here  on  the  persons  in  authority  individually 
but  as  a  rule  at  the  bureau  they  are  very  much  given  to  privacy 
and  mystery.  The  government  does  not  sufficiently  know  how  to 
get  most  out  of  publicity.  One  has  got  la  wrest  the  news  from 
it.     However  signs  of  improvement  are  showing  here  and  there. 

Dutch  journalism  is  not  in  the  least  scandal-hunting;  its 
earnest  endeavors  to  give  truthful  information,  its  absolute  un- 
impeachability are  its  very  peculiar  features.  It  is  rather  kindly 
disposed  and  smoothing  than  exciting  and  instigating.  Only 
few  papers  are  very  decided  in  their  opinion  and  (assuming  their 
attitudes)  in  stating  their  position.  Many  of  them  are  compelled 
by  their  neutrality  to  keep  aloof  from  interesting  problems. 

Holland  is  not  a  country  of  sensational  events  and  conse- 
quently a  journalist's  profession  is  not  so  full  of  variation  and 
adventure  as  is  usual  in  other  countries.  Travelling  journalists 
are  few  in  number ;  reporters  frequent  meetings  and  assemblies 
and  are  present  at  important  events,  but  by  all  that,  their  time  is 
not  taken  up  all  the  year  round.  Local  reporting  does  not  amount 
to  much  in  Amsterdam  and  Rotterdam  it  is  well  worth  men- 
tioning; here  at  the  Hague  the  Dutch  correspondence  bureau  has 
for  the  greater  part  taken  this  task  upon  itself.  It  stands  to 
reason  that  at  the  Hague  there  are  many  parliament  reporters 
whose  only  task  it  is  to  give  a  neutral  report  or  summary.  In 
those  summaries  the  discussions  of  the  "States-General"  are 
treated  from  the  paper's  political  point  of  view. 

Criticism  is  what  it  mostly  comes  to.  Many  neutral  papers 
give  a  minute  account  of  the  discussions  without  much  display 
of  criticism ;  smaller  papers  are  content  to  give  wired  reports, 
sometimes  augmented  by  weekly  summaries.  Private  life  is  not 
discussed  in  the  papers.  It  is  not  thought  fair  and  even  the 
slightest  allusions  are  considered  to  be  objectionable.  The  dailies 
are  not  illustrated.    Recently  a  pictorial  morning  paper  was  pub- 


Appendix  595 

Hshed  and  one  of  the  greatest  papers  has  inserted  an  illustrated 
page.     Illustrated  weeklies  fill  up  this  gap. 

The  weeklies  as  a  rule  are  very  good.  They  have  got  very 
good  contributors  and  do  much  laudable  work.  It  seems  to  me 
that  the  dailies  by  taking  no  account  of  a  good  many  things  have 
done  much  to  further  the  development  of  the  weeklies.  The 
Dutch  are  very  fond  of  reading.  Much  unfavorable  weather 
often  keeps  them  indoors  and  reading  is  one  of  the  diversions  they 
like  best.  Therefore  it  is  desirable  that  the  papers  should  fur- 
nish them  with  a  good  variety  of  reading,  didactic  and  informa- 
tory  about  all  the  topics  of  the  day.  In  this  respect,  considering 
the  nature  of  the  Dutch  and  their  conditions  of  life,  the  Dutch 
dailies  are  rather  falling  short.  Intelligence  is  too  substantial, 
especially  of  foreign  affairs  too  much  detail  is  given.  As  a  rule 
special  correspondence  from  the  capitals  is  superb.  It  is  giving 
us  a  very  clear  picture  of  life  and  proceedings  on  the  other  side 
of  our  frontiers. 

Compared  with  foreign  papers  the  Dutch  are  very  thorough, 
but  also  rather  dull.  Repeatedly  the  leaders  tried  to  stir  them 
up  a  little.  However  in  Holland  hardly  any  difference  is  made  be- 
tween jest  and  wit,  and  many  writers  are  trying  their  hands  at 
joking  rather  than  at  real  humor.  Only  very  few  papers  have 
succeeded  in  making  up  a  special  head  of  really  good  "hors 
d'oeuvres." 

The  Netherlands  have  produced  many  able  journalists  and 
even  now  many  good  writers  are  working  for  the  press.  We  will 
not  mention  names  to  escape  the  danger  of  becoming  unjust  by 
being  short.  Every  period  has  had  its  own  masters  and  every 
period  will  still  have  them.  Dutch  journalism  is  not  subject  to 
many  changes;  only  very  slowly  some  ideas  are  altering.  Of 
course  here  too  there  are  innovators,  who  want  to  introduce  many 
changes,  but  they  can  push  their  ideas  by  very  slow  progress  only ; 
even  the  public  is  not  keen  on  novelties. 

We  may  be  said  to  have  pointed  out  very  candidly  the  better 
and  the  worse  side  of  Dutch  journalism,  from  which  description 
we  hope  a  good  idea  of  it  can  be  formed. 

A  great  many  circumstances  are  influencing  journalism :  the 
comparatively  small  sale,  the  great  number  of  small  papers,  dis- 


596       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

cord  in  politics  and  religion,  but  after  all  we  think  Dutch  jour- 
nalism has  won  a  first  place,  even  in  the  eyes  of  the  public. 

The  Dutch  press  has  a  good  serious  conception  of  its  task 
and  as  a  rule  understands  the  importance  of  publicity.  Its  as- 
sociation, the  'Nederlandsche  Journalistenbring,'  has  always 
stood  up  for  the  respectability  of  the  profession.  It  has  had  a 
hard  task  because  there  are  so  many  sides  to  the  profession  and 
because  of  the  heterogeneity  of  the  press.  In  details,  however,  we 
are  still  far  from  being  at  one.  Last  year,  e.  g.,  at  the  first  Dutch 
Journalistic  Congress  there  appeared  to  be  a  great  difference  of 
opinion  about  the  very  important  question  of  anonymity.  We 
shall  not  expatiate  here  on  this  problem,  but  only  state  as  our 
opinion  that  we  consider  the  utmost  limitation  of  anonymity  of 
urgent  necessity.  Holland  has  shown  by  its  history  that  it  is 
ready  to  give  up  everything  for  its  liberty ;  no  feeling  has  ever 
grown  so  much  into  a  passion  as  the  love  of  liberty  with  the 
Dutch.  But  then  they  should  make  the  most  generous  use  of 
this  liberty  and  give  their  opinion  under  their  hand.  We  are 
proud  of  our  honesty  and  the  just  endeavors  of  the  Dutch  press, 
a  characteristic  that  is  to  be  set  off  as  by  a  golden  frame  by  our 
own  signatures  under  our  own  opinions.  Anonymity  is  fraud 
and  leads  to  deceiving.     It  is  unworthy  of  the  sincere. 

As  the  result  of  the  small  extent  of  our  country  little  litera- 
ture on  journalism  is  lasting.  Only  an  odd  booklet  on  this  sub- 
ject has  been  published.  Now  this  is  not  so  very  bad.  as  foreign 
literature  is  open  to  the  greater  part  of  the  better  classes.  The 
knowledge  of  foreign  languages  is  essential  to  the  journalist,  as 
it  enables  him  to  keep  abreast  of  all  that  is  written  abroad.  Ef- 
forts to  hold  regular  courses  for  journalism  have  failed.  A 
course  was  held  once,  but  too  few  people  attended  the  lectures. 
In  Holland  not  much  is  felt  for  an  academic  education  for  jour- 
nalism. Practical  exercise  is  esteemed  much  higher.  Many  a 
student  after  taking  his  degree  has  devoted  himself  to  journalism ; 
besides,  however,  many  self-made  journalists  have  held  important 
posts.  For  journalism  in  Holland  a  broad  general  knowledge,  a 
clear  intellect  and  sober  judgment  are  needed.  Scientific  culti- 
vation does  not  necessarily  imply  fitness :  we  witnessed  many 
very  good  scholars  fail  in  journalism  and  we  saw  young  men 
with  a  very  simple  school  education  climb  to  important  posts. 


Appendix  597 

As  we  mentioned  before,  journalists'  salaries  have  not  al- 
ways been  all  that  can  be  desired.  A  small  group  was  paid  well ; 
the  rest  could  hardly  make  both  ends  meet.  In  1918  the  "Neder- 
landsche  Journalistenbring,"  which  in  the  beginning  was  no  more 
than  a  society  of  friends  and  did  not  care  much  what  happened  to 
the  greater  part  of  the  journalists,  started  a  strong  salary  action. 
It  was  successful  even  if  it  did  not  attain  everything  it  had 
wished.  The  inviolable  connection  between  ideal  and  material 
interests  has  often  become  apparent.  By  better  salaries  better 
hands  will  feel  attracted  toward  the  profession  and  its  respecta- 
bility and  importance  will  grow  in  proportion. 

The  legal  condition  of  the  journalist  has  not  been  settled.  In 
the  Labor  Act  of  1919,  which  has  not  been  quite  enforced  yet, 
provisions  were  made  for  the  journalists  also,  but  not  of  much 
moment.  The  association  has  still  an  important  field  of  labor 
there,  just  as  large  as  with  regard  to  the  care  for  old  age  and 
widows'  and  orphans'  pensions. 

Perhaps  it  will  become  necessary  to  introduce  a  newspaper- 
trade  bill.  Maybe  protection  of  the  intellectual  labor,  influence 
of  all  the  intellectual  laborers  on  the  leading  of  the  paper,  the 
legal  condition  and  the  right  to  a  pension,  are  petitions  that  can 
only  be  granted  by  an  act.  Some  countries  have  already  set  an 
example  and  the  Netherlands  will  have  to  consider  the  question. 

Law  clauses  regarding  journalism  do  not  exist :  we  are  en- 
joying the  most  complete  freedom.  Even  in  the  critical  years  of 
the  European  War  the  government  let  us  absolutely  free  and 
we  can  declare  that  only  very  seldom  this  privilege  was  misused. 

Only  a  short  time  ago  Mr.  H.  W.  Massingham,  head-editor  of 
the  Nation,  declared  that  the  Dutch  journalism  is  better  than 
the  English,  more  serious  and  instructive.  Indeed  the  Dutch 
journalism  is  not  superficial  like  the  French,  not  partial  like  the 
English,  not  sensational  like  the  American.  It  has  a  character 
of  its  own,  typically  Dutch,  thorough,  dreamy  though  at  the  same 
time  sober. 

In  the  Dutch  press  there  is  place  for  serious,  educated  young 
men  of  high  energy  and  spirits :  they  will  not  be  wholly  satisfied 
by  it,  but  a  grand  and  resultful  career  is  open  to  them,  if  they 


598       The  Press  Congress  of  the  World 

will  never  weary  of  developing  themselves  and  having  an  interest 
in  the  evolution  of  intellectual  and  social  life. 

There  is  an  old  saying  in  Holland,  spoken  once  by  royal  mouth, 
which  runs :  "A  small  people  must  be  great  in  those  things 
wherein  it  can  be  great."  These  words  must  also  be  applied  to 
journalism  in  our  little  Holland.  The  "Nederlandsche  Journalis- 
tenbring"  is  earnestly  striving  to  make  journalism  great  in  Hol- 
land and  each  Dutch  journalist  is  honestly  trying  to  do  his  duty 
in  this  respect. 

We  shall  all  follow  the  discussions  at  the  congress  at  Honolulu 
with  great  interest  and  know  how  to  profit  by  them.  Holland 
has  always  been  on  the  look-out  to  get  hold  of  and  to  bring  into 
practice  the  best  things  of  all  the  world.  No  immoderate  national- 
ism, no  self-consciousness,  no  improper  notion  of  its  won  glory, 
has  ever  prevented  it  from  accepting  good  things  wherever  it 
found  them. 

May  you  at  your  congress  help  to  defend  the  international 
interest  of  journalism  and  to  raise  it.  You  may  depend  upon 
the  Dutch  for  their  readiness  to  accept  and  to  apply  all  that  is 
best. 

"Orbi  ex  orbe"  is  the  device  the  "Nederlandsche  Journalisten- 
bring"  is  bearing  on  its  banner. 


LIST   OF    ILLUSTRATIONS. 


Wabren  G.  Harding,  President  of  the  United  States  of  America, 

Honorary    President    of    the    Congress.         .  .       Frontispiece 

facing  page 
Walter  Williams,  Dean  of  the  School  of  Journalism  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Missouri,  Columbia,  Missouri,  U.  S.  A.,  President 
OF  the  Congress.        .........       7 

James  Wright  Brown,  Editor  of  The  Editor  and  Publisher,  New 
York    City,    Secretary-Treasurer   of    the    Congress.        .        .     32 

Wallace  R.  Farrington,  Governor  of  the  Territory  of  Hawaii, 
Vice  President  and  General  Business  Manager,  Honolulu 
Star-Bulletin,  Chairman,  Hawaiian  Islands  Executive  Com- 
mittee  64 


The  Opening  Session  of  the  Congress,  Moana  Hotel,  Honolulu 

Delegates  to  the  Congress  at  the  Cliff  House,  San  Francisco 
on  the  Eve  of  Sailing  from  the  Mainland  to  Honolulu. 

Lorrin  a.  Thubston,  President,  Advertiser  Publishing  Company 
Honolitlu;  Wallace  R.  Farrington,  Governor  of  the  Terri 
TORY  OF  Hawaii;  Alexander  Hume  Ford,  Director  of  the  Pan 
Pacific    Union 


Oswald  Mayband,  Montreal,  Canada;  Agustin  Lazo,  Havana 
Cuba;  Col.  and  Mrs.  Edward  Frederick  Lawson,  London,  Eng 
LAND;    Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thomas  Petrie,  Hongkong. 

Delegates  from   China;     At  the   Military   Review. 

LuDviG  Saxb,  Cheistiania,   Norway;    Mark   Cohen.   Dunedin,  New 
Zealand;    Thales    Coutoupis,    Athens,    Greece;    Virgilio   Ro 
driguez   Beteta,   Guatemala   City 


Members  op  the  Australian  Delegation,  with  Goveknor  Earring 
ton  ;   On  the  Reviewing  Stand  at  Iolani  Palace. 

John    Henry  Kessell,    Gladstone,    Australia;    Herbert    Arthur 
Davies,  Melbourne,  Austealia;   Andrew  Dunn,  Rockiiampton, 

599 


96 
128 

14-1 

176 
224 

240 
272 


600  List  of  Illustrations 


facing  page 
Australia  ;   Motosada  Zumoto  and  K.  Sugimuba,  Tokyo,  Japan  ; 
HiN    Wong,    Canton,    China;    Hollington    K.  Tong,    PekiiNG, 
China;    Gregoria  Nieva,  Manila,  Philippine  Islands.        .        .  304 

Miss  Caroline  Southern  Catches  a  Fish;  Louis  Madeiras,  Portu- 
guese, Presenting  Gavel  for  Congress  to  Governor  Farbing- 
TON  and  President  Williams,  on  Steps  of  Iolani  Palace; 
Oklahoma  Editors'  Club  House  in  Which  Congress  Was  In- 
vited TO  Meet;  Henry  Chung  and  Dong-sung  Kim,  Korea; 
Mrs.  Henry  J.  Allen  and  Mrs.  Ralph  A.  Harris,  Delegates 
FROM    Kansas,    Decorated    with    Leis 33G 

W.  D.  Hornaday,  Austin,  Texas;  Mr.  and  Mrs.  V.  S.  McClatchy, 
Sacramento,  California;  Herbert  L.  Bridgman,  Brooklyn, 
New  York;  Mrs.  John  Trenholm  Warren,  Honolulu;  Frank 
P.  Glass,  Sr.,  Birmingham,  Alabama;  John  R.  Morris,  Execu- 
tive Secretary  of  the  Congress,  Tokyo;  Mb.  and  Mrs.  H.  U. 
Bailey,  Illinois;  L.  W.  de  Vis-Norton,  Secbetary,  Hawaiian 
Islands  Executive  Committee 368 

Peixim: iNARY  Session  of  Congress  on  Board  Matson  Navigation 
Company    Steamship    "Matsonia." 384 

Delegates  Hear  Dr.  T.  A.  Jaggar  Lecture  at  Kilauea.        .        .        .416 

A  View  of  the  Luau  in  the  Armory  at  Lahaina,  Maui.        .        .  448 

A  Second  View  of  the  Luau  in  the  Armory  at  Lahaina,  Maui.  480 

A  Third  View  of  the  Luau  in  the  Armory  at  Lahaina,  Maui.  512 

President  Harding  Hears  from  Secretary-Treasurer  Brown  Report 
OF  the  Congress 544 


INDEX. 


Adams,    Bristow,    411 

Ad   Club,   Honolulu,   41 

African  Bureau  of  Information,  418 

Agenda,    Congress,   79 

Aiken,   Worth  O.,   10 

Alducin,   Rafael,   417 

Alessandri,  Arturo,  418 

Allen,  Col.  Riley  H.,  10.  45,  66,  265, 

433 
American     Newspaper     Publishers' 

Association,  77 
Andersen,  Alfred   G.,  4 
Andrae,   Percy,   5 
Andreve,    G.,   406 
Armitage,  Geo.  T.,  10 
Association      of     Foreign     Cor're- 

spondents,   403 
Australia,  Tlie  Press  of,  547 
Australian  Journalists   Association, 

306 
Automobile  Club,  52 

Bailey,    H.    U..    292 

Baird,  Robert  H.  H.,  408 

Baldwin,  Mrs.  W.  A.,  32 

Barr,    James   A.,   4 

Beckley,  Henry  P.,  32 

Bedford,    Randolph,   418 

Beecroft,    David,    410 

Beeson,  W.  E.  and  Chas.  H..  411 

Belgium  Press  Association,  364 

Bell,   Robert,   3,   176,   404 

Benn,  Ernest  J.  P.,  412 

Bentley,  Max,  148 

BentleV.    Robert    W.,    151 

Berrv,*  L.  J.,  413 

Beteta,  V.  R.,   14,   79,  81,   182,  371, 

396,  461 
Birmingham,   Ernest   F.,   415 
Bishop.    E.    Faxon,    45 
Blain,  Hugh  Mercer,  5 
Blodgett,  Mrs.   H.   H.,   45 
Bott,    Hedwig,    407 
Brazil,    Invitation    from,    181 


601 


Brewster,  W.  T.,  113,  415 
Bridgman,   H.   L.,   67,    79,   84,    114, 

190 
Bronson,  E.  S.,   181 
Brown,  Colvin  B.,  5 
Brown,  James  Wright,  44,  85,  243, 

353,  358,  360,  370,  378.  380,  386, 

397 
Brown,   Raymond   C.,   10 
Bryan,   Wm.   A.,   57 
Bryan,    William   Jennings,   4 
Buchanan,  James  A.,  4 
Bullen,   Percy  S.,   403 
Bullock,    Barry,    141 
Bunker,  Dr.   Frank   F..   419,  465 
Burke,  John  T.,   140 
Burnham,   Viscount,   78 
Business  Press,  410,  412 

Canada,    Press    of,    275 

Canadian    Press,    479 

Canals,    Salvado,    418 

Cantruy,   R.  R.  de.   406 

Carter,  George  R.,   32 

Chappie,   Joe   Mitcliell,   515 

Chapuisat,    Edouard,    525 

China,  Getting  News  In  and  Out  of, 

471 
China,  Invitation  from,  83,  114 
China,  Journalistic  ^Mission  to,  313 
China,  Press  of,   156,   198,  285 
Chinese  Foreign  Press  Service,  Com- 
mission to  Study,  364 
Chinese  Press,  A  jMessage  from,  453 
Chung,  Henry,  205,  364  "^ 
Circulation,   Building  of,  292 
Cisneros,  Dr.  L.   F.,"l85 
Clarke,    Mrs.    Adna    G.,    45 
Clarke,   F.   W.,    141 
Cohen,  Mark,  14.  174.  297.  349.  356. 
361,  377,  380,  419,  493.  498.   556 
Committee,   Governing.    380 
Committees,  Appointed,  398 


602 


Index 


Committees,     President     Authorized 

to    Appoint,    367 
Communications,    International 

Press,    361 
Conference,    Washington,    Approval 

of,    382 
Connecticut    Editorial    Association, 

411 
Constitution,  Committee  on,  82 
Constitution   of   Congress,   3,   507 
Constitution,    Report    on,    345 
Coutoupis,  Thales,   13,  89,  369,  393 
Creager,   Marvin   H.,    152 
Credentials,  Committee  on,  83 
Crist,    H.    M.,    138 
Crow's  Nest,  In  the  Editorial,   515 
Cuba,  Press  of,   280 
Curran,  Hugh,  418 

Dailey,    0.    S.,   413 

Daniels,  Joseplius,  417 

Davidson,  J.   E.,   320 

Davies,  H.  A.,  306,  368,  369 

Dean,   Dr.   A.   L.,   36,    41 

Delegates,   List   of,    508 

Denison,   George,   13 

Dennis,   C.  H.,   135 

DeRackin,  S.  E.,  355 

Dertinger,   J.   E.,   418 

Desha,  Rev.  Stephen  L.,  24 

Devilar,    Camille,   418 

deYoung,   M.   H.,    4 

Digges,    Rev.    J.    G.,    413 

Dillon,   T.  J.,   132 

Diplomacy,    Open,    Hope    of    Pacific 

Press,  445 
Diplomacy,    Secret   and   Open,   355 
Dobell,  J.  L.,   133 
Dodds,  George  W.,   154 
Dong-A    Daily,    417 
Dotson,  C.  L.,  38,  173 
Doze,  J.  B.,  145 
Dutch    Association    of    Journalists, 

415 
Dyment,  Colin,  404 
Dymond,   John,  416 

Edgecombe,  F.  0.,  357 
Editors,    Managing,   Views   of   Edu- 
cation,  128 
Education,  Journalistic,  115 
Eldridge,    F.    W.,     140 
Empire   Press  Union,   77,   305 
Ethics    of    Journalism,    367 

Farrington,   Frances,   13 
Farrington,    Mrs.    Wallace    R.,    13, 

14,    41,    46 
Farrington,     Wallace     R.,     10,     13, 

14,  32,  38,  67,  387,  399,  419 


Fenwick,  Sir  George,   180 

Festival,    Japanese,    44 

Field,    Mrs.   W.   H.,   37 

Finty,  Tom,  Jr.,   143 

Fisher,   Benjamin   J.,   410 

Fogg,  M.  M.,  5 

Ford,  A.  R.,  4 

Ford,  Alexander  Hume,  10,  20,  389, 

399,   421,   503 
Fox,   Ralph  E.,   5 
Freeman,    0.    S.,    411 
French   Colonial   Press,   Association 

of,   418 

Gait,  H.  R.,  137 
Gardner,  A.  R.,  5 
Garner,   Roy,    134 
Garretson,  Joseph,  136 
Gaylord,  E.  K.,  407 
Glass,    Frank    P.,    Sr.,    14,    32,    67, 
178,  224,  249,  359,  372,  382,  392 
Gough,  Mrs.  R.  W.,  410 
Graham,    J.    D.,    405 
Grant,  A.  W.,  147 
Grant,  William,  418 
Gray,  Joseph  H.,  32 
Greece,  Press  of,  90 
Gregory,  Dr.  H.  E.,  4l 
Griffin,   Solomon  B.,   152 
Grondahl,  Jens  K.,  407 

Hale,  H.  B.,  86 
Haleakala,  33,  34 
Haleiwa    Hotel,    43 
Hall,    F.    P.,    345 
Hamakua  coast,  24 
Hancock,    John,    46 
Harding,  Warren  G.,   1,  66,  67 
Harrington,   H.   F.,  404 
Harrison,  Walter  M.,  134 
Hawaii,  History  of,  53  and   follow- 
ing 
Hawaii,  Legislation  Afiecting,  390 
Haywood,   R.   W.,   133 
Headlines,    332 
Heads   and  Tales,   343 
Heney,    T.    W.,    242 
Herbert,    Benjamin    S.,    411 
Herbert,  B.  B.,  5 
Herrick,  John  P.,  85,  393 
Higgins,  H.   F.,   128 
Hilo,   23,  25,   54 
Hobby,  W.  P.,  148 
Hodorofi',    L.    A.,    405' 
Holbrook,  Arthur  R.,  414 
Holland,   Journalism   of,   588 
Holm,   Frits,   408 
Hoopii,    Wm.    K.     36,    37 
Horn,  R.  W.,  148 


Index 


603 


Hornaday,    W.    D.,    115 
Hosmer,   Geo.   E.,   5 
Hotaling,   H.    C,    5 
Hsu,  Jabin,  284,  453 

Igglesden,    415 

Illinois    Press    Association,    411 

Indian  Press  Act,  414 

India,  The  Press  in,  530 

India,  The  Press  Association  of,  414 

Ingham,    Harvey,   4 

Innes,   Guy,    14,   65,    321,    344,    3G0, 

370,    378,    425,    547 
Interchange   of   Journalists,   368 
International  Obligations,  368 
International  Press  Rate,  435 
Interviewing,   332 
lolani  Palace,  12,  19 
Irish  Newspaper   Society,   112 
Ivens,   Richard,  408 

Jaggar,  Dr.  T.  A.,  31 
Japan,   Newspapers   of,    110 
Japanese   Press   in   Hawaii,   449 
Jarman,   S.   J.,   417 
Jarnagin,  W.  C.,  129 
Jarrett,  Wm.  P.,  49 
Johnston,    Fred,   415 
Jones,  Will  Owen,  155 
Journalism,  Present  Day  Tendencies 

in,   249 
Journalism,    Schools    of,    118,    240, 

300 

Kahanamoku,  Duke,  9 
Kaibyuck    Magazine,    418 
Kaiser,  John,  410 
Kalanianole,  Mrs.  Jonah  Kuhio,   14 
Karger,  Gus  J.,  242,  414 
Kessell,  John   H.,  44,  394,  420 
Kilauea,   Volcano   of,    25,    26,    31 
Kim,   Dong-sung,  459,   521 
Khakeebi,  H.  C,  5 
Khan,  Mirza  Ali  Khuli,  4 
Kodan,   Japanese,    107 
Korea,    365 

Korea,  Invitation  from,  344 
Korea,  Journalism  in,  456,  521 
Korea,  Press   of,   205 
Korea.  The  Newspapers  in,  459 
Korean    Independence    News,    418 
KuUn,    Brigadier-General    Jos.     E., 
43 

Labor  Conditions  in  Hawaii,  390 
Lahaina,  40 
Lamade,    Dietrich.    413 
Lantern  Parade,  ?2 
Latin-American  Countries,  Press  of, 
461 


Lawson,  Col.  E.  F.,  13,  14,  52,  212, 
298,  353,  361,  363,  367,  375,  497 
Lazo,  Agustin,    14,   280 
Leng,   Douglass   C,   412 
Leprosarium,   49 
Libel  Law,   143 
Lievano,  Enrique,  4 
Ling,  Lee  Sum,  5 
Lopez,  Dr.  Jacinto,  185 
Lorton,    Otis,    139 
Louisiana   Press   Association,  416 
Luau,   40 
Lyon,   H.  L.,  44 

MacCallumy,  W.  Adamson,  417 

Macfarlane,    Peter    C,    5 

Mackenzie,   R.,    406 

Mack,  Norman  E.,  4 

Madeiras,    Louis,    13,    80 

Makepeace,  Walter,  418 

Manzanares,   Fermin,  418 

Mardigian,   Vertanes,   418 

Mares,  C.  P.,  405 

Marshall,  Randolph,  131 

Matson  Navigation  Company,  7 

Matters,  Leonard  W.,  418 

Maui,   23,   32,   34,   36,   37,   40,   55 

Mauna  Loa,  25 

Mavrand,  Oswald.    14,  275,  479 

McClatchv,  V.  S.,  21,  219,  358,  361. 

362,   379,   380,   387,  419,  497 
McCullough,  Wm.,  5 
McKeever,  J.   H.,   411 
McPherson,  A.  B.,  5 
Membership,  297,  349 
Mendoza,    Juan    Guillermo,    417 
Mesru,   Joseph,   5 
Messages  to  Congress,  403 
Militarv  Review,  43 
Moana 'Hotel,    12.    13,   40 
Modi,   M.   C,  414 
Molokai,  23 
Mooney,  C.  P.  J.,   129 
Mooney,  Homer,  5 
Moore,  Charles  C,  4 
Morris,  John  R.,  77 
Morrison.   J.   C,   5 
Mountfortt,  Wade,  146 
:\Turphy,  W.  J.,  121 
Myers,  Joseph  S.,  416 

Nacachian.    Mihran,    417 

Natal   Witness,   417 

National  Editorial  Association,  412 

National   Union  of  Journalists.  407 

Naval   Communications   Service,   89 

Naval    Review,    50 

Navy   Radio,   490 

Neff",   Ward  A.,   121 

Nelson,    Ernesto,    5 


604 


Index 


New  York,   University   of   State   of, 

114 
New  Zealand,  The  Evolution  of  the 

Press  of,  556 
New  Zealand  Newspaper  Proprietors 

Association,  413 
News    Conimunicationa,    219,    224, 

367,  427 
News  Communications,  Cheaper,  212 
News    in    the    Pacific,    Intercliange 

of,  433 
Newspaper    Enterprise    Association, 

137 
Newspapers  of  Hawaii,  17 
Newspaper      and      Periodical      Pro- 
prietors' Association,  Weekly,  409 
Newspaper  of  Tomorrow,   190 
News  Services,  216 
News  Service,  Pan-Pacific,  430 
News  Value,  Logical  Basis  of,   105 
Niesigh,  Capt.  J.  W.,  4 
Nieva,    Gregoria,    14,   84,    112,   224, 

366 
Nominations,   Committee  on,   83 
Nominations,  Committee  on.  Report 

of,  377 
Norton,   E.   0.,   409 
Norway,  Press  of,  97 
Norwegian  Press  Association,  364 
Noth,    J.    M.,    Jr.,    144 

Oahu,    39,    54 
Oahu    Prison,    49 
Oahu  Sugar  Plantations,  45 
O'Brien,  Robert  L.,   152 
Ochs,  Adolph  S.,  84 
Oestreicher,    W.    M.,    130 
Officers,   4 

Officers,  List  of  New,  380 
Organization,    Preliminary,    3 
Oswald,   John   Clyde,   418 
Outrigger    Club,    41 
Owyang,    Kee,    4 

Palmer,  Rev.  Albert  W.,  43 

Pan-Pacific  Conference,  Permanent, 
421 

Pan -Pacific  Press  Conference,  20, 
400,  419,  439,  465 

Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,  Com- 
mittee on,  89 

Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,  Organ- 
ization of,  487 

Pan-Pacific  Press  Conference,  Reso- 
lutions of,  485 

Pappageorge,    Geo.    D.,    5 

Parks,  John  A.,  416 

Passports,    Restrictions    upon,    360 

Paz,  Ezequiel,  405 


Peace  in  the  Pacific,  The  Press  and, 

481 
Pearl    Harbor,     50 
Penhallow,  H.  B.,  32 
Perry,  John  H.,  5 
Petrie,   Thos.,    14,   180,   346,   430 
Philippine    Islands,    Press    of,    224 
Philippines,    Invitation    from,    84 
Pineapple  Canning  Industry,  43 
Piper,  Edgar  B.,  4 
Powell,  Hugh  J.,  33 
Press,    American,    History    of     234 
Press   Club,    Honolulu,    12 
Press,  Freedom  of,  89,  243,  267,  281, 

367,    369 
Press,   Provincial,  233 
Press,   Truth   and   Falsehood   in,   97 
Price,    Charles   W.,    5 
Prison,   Oahu,   49 
Puckette,  Charles  McD.,  139 

Radio,  United  States  Navy,  301 

Radio,    Use   of,   436 

Ray,   E.   Lansing,  403 

Reed,  Mrs.  Emma  B.,  197 

Regal,  Howard  K.,   152 

Relations,  International,  Obligations 
of  Press  to,    182 

Resolutions,  Committee  on,  82 

Resolutions,  Report  of  Committee 
on,  349 

Rice,  Dr.  Milton,  23 

Richardson,   F.   W.,   5 

Richardson,  H.  M.,  407 

Robinson,  Bertha  Gray,  407 

Rook,   C.   A.,    135 

R.  O.  T.  C.  Military  Tournament,  53 

Rountree,   Lee  J.,   5 

Rowell,    Chester    H.,    5 

Rules  and  Order  of  Business,  Com- 
mittee   on,   83 

Russia,  Journalism  in,  405 

Ryan,  Frank  J.,  137 

Sanchez,    Conrado,   417 

Saxe,  Ludvig,  13,  97,  363,  397 

Schermerhorn,    Jajues,    540 

Schofield    Barracks,    42 

Schools,  Public,  47 

Schoop,  Dr.  H.,  4 

Scott,  Fred  Newton,  5 

Scott,  S.  D.,  4 

Seitz,   Don,    109 

Selig,   P.,   407 

Sessions,   Charles  H.,   139 

Seville,    Invitation    from,    81 

Shastri,   K.  D.,   4 

Shorter.   Clement,   413 

Shun  Pao,  83,  198,  471 


Index 


605 


Simpson,  Rear  Admiral  Edward,  14, 

38,   40 
Smith,  Dick,   138 
Smith,  Victor  B.,   136 
Smuts,  Gen.  J.  C,  416 
Soga,    Y.,    14,    419,   449 
Southern,    Wm.    Jr.,    88,    233,    344, 

373 
Star-Bulletin,   Honolulu,    10 
Stead,  Henry,  481 
Sterling,    Donald,     152 
Steven,   Alexander,   409 
Stone,  A.   L.,   133 
Stout,   R.   E.,   138 
Stuart,   Morley,   409 
Sugar  Plantations,  Oahvi,  45 
Sugimura,    K.,    105,    363 
Sununerall,  Maj.-Gen.  Ghas.  P.,   14, 

38,   39 
Swanzy,  Mrs.   F.   N.,  419 
Switzerland,    Press    of,    525 

Thanks,    Resolutions    of,    372,    373, 

374.    376,    392,    502 
Thayer,    W.    A.,    154 
Thompson,   Milo   M.,    136 
Thorpe,   Merle,   5 
Thurston,  Lorrin  A.,  10,  21,  25,  65, 

389,  399,  419,  439,  485,  495 
Times,   New   York,   84 
Tong,    Hollington    K.,    14,    65,    80, 

156,  368,  375,  445 
Toundokyo  Magazine,  418 
Townsend,  Mrs.  Georgina,  272 
Travis,   John   L.,    130 
Trigg,   L.  O.,   417 

Understanding,   A   Pacific,   425 
Union,   International   Press,  363 
United      Bankers      Association      of 

China,    417 
United  Chambers  of  Commerce,  417 
United     Educational     Associations, 

417 


University  of  Cambridge,  410 
University   of  Hawaii,   35 
Urban,    Henry    F.,    5 
Uyehara,  G.  E.,  4 

Vassadarkis,  C,  5 
Vatchaghandy,  R.  N.,  530 
Vice  Presidents,  379,  381 
Vis-Norton,   L.   W.   de,    12,    26,   65, 

399 
Volcano,  Kilauea,  25,  26,   31 
Von  Der  Hout,  W.  N.,  588 

Wang,  K.  P.,   198,   471 

Warren,  Mrs.   John  T.,    12,   13,   14, 

45 
Watson,  Aaron,  242,  416 
Waymack,  W.  W.,   142 
Weisz,   Hans   Den,   415 
Welfare   of   Journalists,    Promotion 

of,  367 
W^estervelt,   Rev.   and   Mrs.    W.    D., 

48 
White,  William  Allen,  142 
Wilder,   Gerrit   P.,    10 
Williamson,  David  E.  Vv.,   154 
Williams,  Talcott,  5 
Williams,  T.  R.,  79 
Williams,  Walter,  4,  13,  14,  45,  65, 

70,  380.  383,  389,  399,  419 
Wilson,   Fred  J.,  5 
Wilson,  John  H.,   11 
Wilson,  W.  Arthur,  418 
Wong,   Hin,   313,   363,   364,   395 
World,   New   York,    109 
Wyatt,  Henry,  408 

Yamagata,  I.,  456 
Yellow  Jacket,  50 
Yost,  Casper,  144 

Zumoto,  M.,  176,  211,  360,  365,  368, 
374 


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